


Clustered Realities

by ManMagnificent



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-10-20 02:34:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10653126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ManMagnificent/pseuds/ManMagnificent
Summary: All of it is happening too quickly, one bombshell after another. But one thing is clear, the Earth is in crisis and it'll need everyone to help it escape. No one gave me this task, but this is my home, it's my responsibility that I defend it from all who seek to bring it harm.The first among them, the people of my best friend.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The major deviations in this story will be the result of characters working towards tangible goals.

“It’s been too long, I feel,” I said as I reclined against the roof. It was a nice day out, clouds in the sky and giving shade from the sun, though there was the drift of a warm current of wind coming from the sea. 

Goku reclined on the roof beside me, looking more down than up. I followed his gaze and a smile touched my face. He was watching Gohan who was playing doing his best in chasing Oolong who’d turned into a hummingbird. With how fast Oolong was and how he could quickly change direction, it was looking to be an impossible task.

“Yeah,” he said and he reclined. “Peace,” he said. “It’s weird.” 

I turned to look at him, his scrunched expression in minor discomfort. “You mean it’s boring. You had that same expression last year. I saw it in the tournament too.” 

Goku sighed. “It just isn’t challenging anymore. It’s been three years and…Piccolo’s done nothing. Just looming, growing in strength.” 

“Careful there, or I might start to think that you’re actively looking for a fight.” 

“I’m not looking,” said Goku. “But I wouldn’t mind if one popped up.” He looked in my direction. “Maybe if you hadn’t been slacking on your training you might give me a run for my money,” Goku said with a grin. 

“That ship’s long past,” I muttered. I shook my head. “Nope. I like this. The reason I took up fighting in the first place when I was younger was…weak. Selfish and not very good for the long term. I don’t think I’ll ever really pick up fighting again.” 

Goku sighed. “That’s a pity. You really were great fighter,” he said. “Resourceful in a way I wasn’t.” 

“Oh, shucks,” I said, a grin plastered on me. “More of that and you’re going to make me turn beet-red.” 

Goku mirrored my grin. “It’s true though,” said Goku and then he sighed. He was sighing a lot I noticed. “I just worry about things like this. How more and more, people are forgetting about the Ki Arts. How, in terms of raw power, I’m the most powerful person and it looks like I might be stuck that way for the rest of my life.” 

“You’ve been thinking about this a lot,” I said. 

Goku let out a chuckle. “Of course, I have,” he said. “You remember our first tournament and how thrilling it was? Remember when we had to fight Chiaotzu and Tien, and then the Demon King Piccolo. Then everything just petered out. I’ve been able to win the last three tournaments by just turning up. Chi-Chi loves it, of course, it means we don’t have to burden Dad about money. But me?” 

He shook his head. 

“I’ve just been fighting for so long that, I don’t think I even know what I’m supposed to do when I’m not. There’s raising Gohan, but that’s different. Chi-Chi does the brunt of the work, raising him up to be…not me.” 

Goku went quiet and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t sure what to say. It was shameful to think, but I hadn’t really considered that he might have layers to him, that there was something beyond the happiness. He reclined, head on his arms and looking up at the sky with a forlorn expression. 

“Okay,” I said. 

“Okay what?” he said. 

“I’ll start training again, really training,” I said. “Just so you can stop looking so…” I gestured at his general person. 

Goku grinned and then that grin slipped. “You’ll have a lot of ground to cover. I don’t mean this the wrong way but you’ve always been…lazy.” 

“Have not. I just…work smarter not harder. I leave the latter to you,” I said giving him a light punch to the shoulder. “It’ll probably be the same here. I don’t think I could ever really catch up so I’ll work to get back the air of unpredictable I had.” 

“Well, you could,” said Goku. At my expression he said, “Catch up. But Kami would think that that’s wasteful and not allow it.” 

“Allow what?” I asked. 

“Never mind,” said Goku, shaking his head. “It’s part of the stuff that I learned while I was up there. Kami made me promise him not to divulge. I think the main reason he told me all of it was because he wanted me to become Guardian.” 

“I still can’t believe you said no,” I said, a wistful air to my voice. “I don’t think I could ever have said no to becoming a god.” 

“It just wasn’t the thing for me,” he said. “I wanted to be walking the Earth, facing its challenges and getting stronger. Now I’m thinking that I should have taken the offer. But then, Piccolo’s still out there, he might still act.” 

“You’ve said that,” I said. “Anyway, a year from now, at the next tournament. I’ll work to take away your source of income.” 

“That’ll be awesome,” he said. “It also means that it might keep the tax man off of me. There was a case last year that—” There was a hiss and Bulma’s blue hair popped up; she had a sleek jetpack against her back, blue flames shooting from slots to keep her aloft. 

She moved forward and landed on the roof. “What are you guys talking about?” she said, walking forward and finding a spot on the roof. Her jetpack hissed, the bits of metal shifting and the entire configuration changing so that the jetpack was smaller against her back. 

“I was telling Krillin that the money I make from the tournaments is close to being taxed,” he said. 

“Really?” said Bulma.

Goku nodded. “They say, considering that most of my time is spent training and that my family lives off the money I win off of it, it can be considered revenue instead of fortuitous gain. So, it’s supposed to be in my taxable income…It was really long. I’m thinking of not entering the next tournament just not to win the money. It’s not like Chi-Chi and I need any more of it.” 

“Even with your diet?” said Bulma. “I’d imagine it was worse since it’s you and Gohan now.” 

“Chi-Chi bought a lot of land with the money,” Goku said. “She has me farming various animals as livestock. It fills my days.” 

“I didn’t know about this,” I said. 

“It’s relatively new,” said Goku. “Because—” He stopped, bolting to his feet much faster than me. A well of immense energy flying too fast into my range. 

“Piccolo?” I said. 

Goku shook his head. “I’ve been keeping track of him. I know how big his well is. This.” He shook his head. “It’s too big and in too short a timeframe to be him.” 

“Then what does this mean? Power like this isn’t something that can just pop up. Unless someone’s used the dragon balls—” 

“That’s not possible,” said Goku. “I have a dragon ball. But it could have been a wish that was made some time ago. But why now, why are they coming here.” 

“What is it?” said Bulma. “What’s going on?” 

“Someone really powerful is coming here,” said Goku. “Whether they’re friend or foe, we don’t know. But we’re sure it’s not one of our friends.” Goku looked down, where Gohan had stopped playing and instead was with Master Roshi. 

“Bulma, take everyone and fly out of here. If they’re an enemy. I don’t want anyone getting hurt. Krillin—”

“I’m staying,” I said. 

Bulma gave a short nod and then jumped off the roof. The jetpack quickly reconfigured, thrusters coming alight and halting her downward momentum. She reached into her side and pulled out a capsule, throwing it; there was a poof and a sleek yellow jet appeared. 

Master Roshi, Bulma, Gohan and Oolong quickly moved into the got into jet while turtle moving into the ocean and disappeared. The jet came alive, lifting into the air and then spearing in a north-westerly direction, there was a massive boom as it disappeared into the distance. 

“If they’re an enemy,” I said. 

“Let’s not think that way,” said Goku. “Let’s deal with this as it comes. Right now, we have no reason to think they’re an enemy. Hiding energy is second nature to almost all of us. But to hide it so completely.”

The energy got closer, getting more oppressive the closer it came. The person was flying faster than any person I’d ever felt before, even Goku on the Nimbus. A few minutes and I could see them, a speck in the distance. An extra set of seconds and the speck became a large and muscular man. 

And then he was stopping in the air in front of us. A large man with tanned skin, hair that spilled back, past his back and waist, and stopping near his knees. The man wore brown armour, though it didn’t look like it was protecting much, more a stylistic combat suit than anything else, a peculiar device was connected to his ear, stretching to cover his eye. 

A wicked grin spread itself over the man as he stopped, his eyes set on Goku. He let out a loud and excited bellow before he moved so quickly that we couldn’t react, stopping in front of Goku and wrapping his arms around him. 

“You’re alive, little brother,” the man said, spinning a frozen Goku around. “I mean you’re a little weaker than you should be,” he said, pulling back. “But kid. I thought you were dead. Wouldn’t even have known it was you if it wasn’t that you’re the spitting image of Dad. Wait a minute. Kakkarot, where’s your tail?” 

“Um…I cut it off,” Goku said absently. He pulled himself back and a little away. “Who are you? I’m sorry, but…Dad? You said you were my brother?” 

“Yeah. Yeah, I am,” said Raditz, though he was wearing a frown. “I was really surprised to see the state of this place. That you hadn’t destroyed it like you were supposed to. But good thing because if you had you’d probably have died on this pitiful planet.” 

“Destroy…” Goku shook his head. “I don’t know anything about what you’re talking about. Let’s go through this, slowly. Who are you?” 

“Raditz,” the man said. “Son of Bardock. A proud Saiyan warrior who aids our King, Vegeta. You are Kakkarot. My brother. Not that we’ve actually seen each other. When you were born, Dad was…He was acting weird. He sent me off on a mission, ordered me not to come back until help came.” 

“Why would he do that. But, wait, I’m an alien?” said Goku. 

“Of course, you are,” said Bardock. He unwound his tail, letting it stretch out. “You look nothing like these things,” he said, the tail pointing at me. “What is this even doing with you? Is it your pet?” 

“No, Krillin’s my friend,” said Goku. “And my name’s Goku, not Kakkarot. I—”

“You’ve gone native,” Raditz interrupted. “Not that it’s not to be expected. All this time spent with these…what even are these creatures.” 

“Humans,” I said. 

“Humans,” said Raditz, the word slow and measured. “Weak little things aren’t they. I met one of them and it tried to kill me with a small projectile. It quivered when I caught the damned thing. But I digress. King Vegeta sent me here to see if you were still alive. Now that you are, we can go back to him and work towards getting vengeance for our home planet.” 

“Leave?” said Goku. “I can’t do that. This is my home.” 

“This is not your home, Kakkarot,” said Raditz, his tone filled with heat. “Your home was a wondrous place, filled with the strongest race in the known universe. This doesn’t even measure up to that. But we’ll have to destroy this place to make sure that Frieza doesn’t cotton on to the fact that you failed in your mission. That another Saiyan is still alive.” 

Raditz turned around, looking at everything. “But it’ll have to be done right. Make sure that the damage looks old. Between the pair of us it shouldn’t take us too long and then we’ll be on our way to meeting the King. First, we should find your pod. Do you know where it is?” 

“Stop for a second,” said Goku. He was shaking his head. “You’re saying too much and I don’t even think you realise what you’re saying. You’re saying that you want to destroy my home.” 

“This is not your home,” Raditz insisted. 

“Even so,” I said. “Even if it isn’t his home, what about all the people alive on this planet? You’d just kill them?” 

“They’re going to die anyway,” said Raditz. “Whether it’s now or when Frieza’s forces eventually arrive. This way, you survive Kakkarot. You get to enjoy the splendour of battle as we avenge our father, our mother, our planet.” 

Goku shook his head. “I’m sorry but no,” he said. “I can’t just do that. I can’t just destroy everything I’ve known because you say so. You’ve got to understand. This is more my home than where we’re originally from.” 

Raditz expression was unreadable before he let out a huff, nodding. “I get it,” he said. “I get it.” I could see Goku calming down a little, his guard slacking. “It’s an attachment to this place. But once it’s gone you’ll be better.” 

Raditz moved quickly, a chop directed at Goku. The man dodged, weaving under the chop and getting close; I felt as Goku opened the connection to his well and power flood into his system. Goku kicked, striking Raditz in the chest and sending him flying back. 

The Saiyan quickly stopped himself, a frown on his face. 

“Damned thing,” he said and he pressed his ear. I could see a light blink on in the glass over his eye. “Either it’s not working or you king hide your power somehow. You’re not as weak as I thought brother.”

“I’m not going to let you destroy the Earth,” said Goku, his expression cold and yet with a glimmer of excitement. I felt as more of his energy seeped from his well into his body. Raditz grinned as the light over his eye blinked. 

“Yes,” he said. “Hiding power. I wonder how. This sort of power could be a boon for the King’s plans.” 

“We could teach it to you,” I said. “We could make a deal. Don’t destroy the Earth and it could benefit you in knowledge you might not otherwise know.” 

“Like what?” said Raditz. “As impressive as this technique is, it’s not much when compared to Frieza’s power.” 

“What about the ability to sense energy?” I said. “Aren’t you curious how we knew you were coming? We don’t have that device on us to sense energy and yet we knew that you were coming and that you were strong. We knew ahead enough that we were able to send people away.” 

“I saw that,” said Raditz. “And I was curious. My gratitude for sating my curiosity. But it still doesn’t measure up. There’s too much risk in this planet being in the state it’s in. Frieza might seek to investigate and that would be at our disadvantage. It’s most expedient to destroy this planet instead.” 

“To do that, you’ll have to go through me,” said Goku, his fists clenching. 

“I’m thrilled at seeing your full power, brother,” said Raditz. He dropped, landing on the beach. Goku jumped off the roof and landed. He started stripping, taking off his shirt, boots and armbands. 

Rolling his arms in relief as he did. 

I followed, pulling off the weighted parts of my clothes and landed on the ground, standing beside Goku. 

“You too, human,” said Raditz. “You think you measure up?” 

“This is my home,” I said. “I don’t think I’d feel good if I just let you destroy it without a fight.” 

“Honourable,” said Raditz. “Had we more ships you might have joined us.” The larger man not into a stance, Goku and I mirroring though our stances were different. “Give me a challenge.” 

Goku moved first, darting forward; he punched and Raditz wove to the side. The large man turned and extended a hand; Goku curled into a ball and rolled out of the way. I entered the fray, getting close and uncapping: Power flooded through me and I moved faster, elbow extended and going for his core. 

Raditz braced and didn’t budge at the impact; his tail lashed out, grabbing me around the throat and throwing. I couldn’t stop myself fast enough and I crashing into the house. I quickly moved forward to see Goku trying to land a punch but Raditz weaving out of the way of each hit. 

The man’s well spiked, energy surging, before Goku was thrown back by a shockwave. 

“Not strong enough, brother,” said Raditz. “And you’re definitely not close to being strong enough to take me human. This is futile brother. Stop fighting me or I’ll be forced to hurt you.” 

Goku snarled and darted forward. He tried again but Raditz was still faster, though this time Goku was prepared for a counterattack. He dodged out of the way, landing on the ground on all fours before he pushed off. 

The motion caught Raditz off guard and Goku slammed into him, pushing both of them towards the sea. Raditz quickly got his bearing and grabbed Goku by the body, spinning and then throwing him against the ground. 

I started to move forward before I stopped. Raditz was too powerful to confront head on and doing so would be our undoing, or at least my own. From the looks of it Raditz didn’t want to kill Goku, instead he wanted to hurt him enough that he wouldn’t fight. 

We could use that to our advantage, but I didn’t know how. Instead what I knew was that a straight fight wasn’t the option. We had to catch him so off guard that he couldn’t attack and I had an idea. 

Goku was up and he was preparing to go at Raditz again but I spiked the amount of energy running though my body. He stopped short and looked in my direction. 

“Giving up already, human?” asked Raditz. “It’s the smarter play. I might actually make this quick if you give me reason to.” 

“No,” I said. “I’m sure we’ll win. I just don’t want to fork out the cash to fix this place if it gets destroyed. Can we move this place somewhere else?” 

Raditz let out a guffaw. “I do like you human. I like you so much I might well consider letting you squeeze into my pod.” Raditz’s grinned slipped as he turned north east. “That’ll be the Namekian, won’t it?” 

Namekian? I had time to think before a well of power entered my range. 

“Piccolo,” I head Goku mutter.

“That’s your play then?” said Raditz. “Giving yourselves time before the reinforcements arrive?” The man shrugged. “I don’t mind if it’s three against one. It’ll mean less of a disadvantage on your side, though not by much…But then, he probable can hide too.” 

Raditz dropped and landed. 

“He’s so far away from home,” the Saiyan continued. “Probably has a ship.” He grinned as he looked in our direction. “Okay, Kakkarot. Okay. The Namekian has a ship I could probably pilot given a little time. It’ll probably be bigger than our pods so you can choose people to join our cause. The planet still has to go but at least it’s something, right?” 

Goku shook his head. “It’s still killing the billions of lives that call the Earth home.” 

Raditz let out a frustrated sigh. “You’re really starting to piss me off, Kakkarot. I’m trying to make this better for you and you’re just throwing it back to my face. This is me helping you.” 

“Helping me?” said Goku. “You want to destroy my planet. Helping me would be finding another way.” 

“There is no other way,” said Raditz, desperation in his voice. “Even this, what little we’re doing, is a long shot. We can’t afford to take any undue risks.” 

Piccolo got closer.

“Maybe if you explained to us what you’re so afraid of we might able to help,” I put in. 

Raditz looked at me for a long moment before he said, “Frieza. The most powerful being in the known universe, with the power to destroy planets and still have enough power in reserve to destroy a moon. But that’s not even why he’s such a great threat. No, that is because he’s essentially the Emperor of the universe. 

“Through the World Trade Organisation he scours planets and sells them to interested parties. He subjugates worlds so he can have access to their resources. We Saiyans were part of his work force, his main militia, but for some reason he saw fit to destroy our planet, our entire culture.” 

“But he left you alive,” I said. “Enough that it looks like you’re still in his employ.” 

“He doesn’t know we know,” said Raditz. “There were only three people that were there that knew about the destruction of Planet Vegeta. Frieza himself and his two guards, Zarbon and Dodoria.” 

“That means one of them is working with you, then,” I said. “Either because they were gloating or because they’re also working to defeat Frieza. This is much larger than just you, isn’t it? Why don’t you make it larger? We can help.” 

“You keep saying that, human, but I don’t see anything special about this planet that might be able to help us,” said Raditz. 

I looked at Goku for a long moment, hoping that he was thinking along the same track that I was. It was dangerous, what with the information we would be giving up, but he was stronger and stopping this with words was our best options. 

“We have the dragon balls,” I said. Goku frowned, his brow quirking in question. “They’re mystical objects that can grant any wish that the user has, within limits. We could give them to you. The right wish and things could be better. The right person coming back to life or your entire planet for that matter.” 

“That’s impossible,” said Raditz. “That type of magic—” 

“It’s possible,” I interrupted. “I’ve died before and yet here I stand.” 

Piccolo appeared, already pulling off his cloak and throwing it into the sea. He landed, already in a fighting stance. 

“Good that you’re finally here, Namekian,” said Raditz. “Do me a favour and tell me where your ship is.” 

“That mean you’re not going to take my offer?” I asked. 

“I don’t know,” said Raditz. “Show me these things and their power and I’ll take the offer back to King Vegeta.” 

“That’s where things get a little complicated,” I said. “The dragon balls are scattered all throughout the Earth. Finding them usually takes a few months, scouring through rumours and auctions for rare artefacts.” 

“How convenient,” said Raditz. 

I shrugged. “Yes,” I said. “But I can at least show you one of them. It’s indestructible, that should be sign enough that the it’s magic is powerful. Give me an hour to get it here?” 

“Time for more reinforcements, huh?” said Raditz. He shrugged, crossing his arms. “Fine, I’ll wait. I’ll open myself up to this obvious trap. But if I sense too many people converging in on this location, I’ll fly loose. You go, human, Kakkarot and the Namekian stay here. I don’t want the lot of you planning. Who knows what other tricks you have up your sleeves.” 

I nodded and then jumped into the sky, taking off in the direction Bulma and the others had gone. I pushed more energy and started flying faster, hoping that I would feel Master Roshi in the least. I spent ten minutes in flight before I felt Master Roshi’s well of power; I had to change direction a little, but a few seconds passed before I could see the sleek jet making its way towards me. 

I stopped and it stopped too, getting into a hover before the door opened. I got in. Gohan was clinging onto Oolong, with the man talking to him in a soft voice while the boy just shivered. 

“I need—” I started before I was interrupted. 

“We know,” said Bulma. “Do you think this was a good idea?” 

“I didn’t have anything better to go on,” I said. “I just wanted to buy us more time. He’s leagues more powerful than Goku and me and even Piccolo who looks like he’s going to fight on our side. He doesn’t know about the scanner and the power the dragon balls bring is too great for it not to be appealing. I think he’ll expand the effort to search for them.” 

“The great amount of evil that could be committed,” said Master Roshi. “We don’t know what their allegiance could be. Even in the short space of time that you’ve been in flight he’s been threatening to torture Piccolo if he doesn’t tell him the placement of his ship.” 

“I know,” I said and sighed, running a hand over my head. “He seems desperate about avenging his planet. I just don’t know if this behaviour is because of the sheer odds against them or his disposition.” 

“It’s the planet that’s in stake,” said Bulma. “A mistake would be massive. We might be wrong, but right now it’s better we opt on the side of cautions and ‘take care’ of Raditz before he can pull through on his threat.” 

“You make it sound like you have a plan,” I said. 

“No, but you do,” she said. “You have a reason for being here. You have a reason for overestimating the amount of time it would take for you to reach us. What can we do?” 

“We can kill Raditz,” I said. “It really won’t be that hard even with how powerful he is.” 

“How?” asked Bulma. 

“A really powerful gun as well as very thick metal,” I said. “How resistant we make ourselves is really dependant on the amount of focus and energy that we push into a particular point. It’s the reason I invented the Destructo Disc, a lot of energy concentrated in the blade of the energy disc.” 

“Shooting at a far enough position with a powerful enough gun means that he won’t expect it,” said Bulma. “The bullet will pass through him just as it would anyone else. But then, he’ll be as sturdy as Goku is even with energy coursing through him.” She nodded. “I’ll get working on that, a few hours before I get things in order?” 

I nodded pointing a hand towards Gohan. The ball on his hat glowed as a blue-green membrane appeared around it. I pulled and the ball jerked through the air and landed in my hand. 

“It might be in our best interest that we start collecting the rest of the dragon balls,” I said. “Make sure he can’t get them.” 

“I can get on that,” said Oolong. “Doing something since I won’t be in the thick of it.” 

“I’ll be heading back then,” said I said. 

“Before you go,” said Bulma. “You should expect trouble soon. I received notification from Capsule Corp that an UFO entered the Earth’s atmosphere. Our systems are state of the art, far better than most, but there’ll be other players who’ll have heard. The military amongst them.” 

“He’ll think it’s an ambush,” I said. “It’ll be odd if I tell him that, though. He’ll rightly think I’ve been planning this.” 

“Hopefully I’ll head them off,” said Bulma. “But the military can be pig-headed at times. Good luck out there.” 

I nodded and then jumped off, flying back to Turtle Island. It was a growing speck in the distance when a voice reverberated through my head.

Solar Flare. 

I knew the plan and as I flew forward, watched for the right moment as I saw the three of them on the beach. Raditz was looking upward in my direction, arms crossed and mouth moving in speech; my hands splayed over my face as I said, “Solar Flare!” 

All at once there was a flare of activity, Goku moving forward and spinning around as Raditz spun his arms wildly. He ducked low and the grabbed Raditz’s tail as it was extended. Goku pulled but was what was supposed to happened, Raditz all at once losing access to his well, didn’t, instead there was a flare of power, Goku and Piccolo being pushed back. 

Attack, I heard and I stopped in the air, letting energy flood from my core into my hand; a ball appeared, already spinning. I imagined the ball being squashed by an invisible force. The ball, still spinning, got thinner and thinner until it was a spinning disc in my hand.

In the battlefield below, Raditz had already gained enough of his sense that he was fighting back, mainly keeping Goku back through a series of shockwaves. Piccolo was standing, his body crackling but the power surging around his right hand. 

I flared my energy and Goku reacted, pulling back and spinning out of the way. I threw and the disc, large and unwieldly, speared through the air toward Raditz. There was another shockwave, energy pulsing outwards but the disc cut through it, getting closer; before it could hit Raditz jumped to the side, but it was a little too late and the disc caught a side, taking off a leg and a portion of the still extended tail. 

Raditz screamed. 

Another shockwave ripped through the island, pushing everything back and destroying Master Roshi’s house. Piccolo’s attempt at gathering power was all at once abandoned as he jumped into the air, pushing himself back from the full force of the shockwave; Goku wasn’t so lucky, he was swept back, sent tumbling through the air. 

“Special Beam Cannon!” Piccolo shouted and a purple beam shot out of his finger, cutting through the pulsing series of shockwaves; Raditz titled to get our of the way but the beam was wide enough that it grazed him, taking a chunk out of his torso. 

Raditz couldn’t hold himself aloft as he was sent tumbling through the air, slamming into the crashing waves. His reserves were still going strong but that didn’t mean much when he’d suffered fatal damage, when every passing second meant he was losing a lot of blood and was closing in on his death. 

The moment he died the access he had to his well would disappear. 

Goku flew out of the water, breathing hard and looking towards the water. Then he flew down, spearing in. 

“Idiot,” I heard Piccolo say. “He’s going to save him.” 

“I know,” I said. “It’s his brother.” 

“He’s a threat,” said Piccolo. 

“So were you and we let you live,” I said. Piccolo’s expression scrunched in distaste, teeth bared. “We did a lot of damage on him. It’ll be a long time before he heals enough that he’ll be able to fight us. That gives us time for Goku to convince him of another path. If we have him on our side, it means we might have a way of communicating with the others that’ll come here when he doesn’t return.” 

“There’re others?” 

I nodded. “It’s a long story. One I’m not sure if we should tell you. Are you going to become a problem, Piccolo?” 

Piccolo snorted. “You say that like you’d be able to stop me if I were,” he said. 

“You don’t know that I wouldn’t.” 

Piccolo folded his arm. “I won’t be a problem,” he said. Goku speared out of the water and then started flying east. 

Where he was headed hit and I flew faster, intercepting and stopping him. Goku’s face shone with betrayal as he looked at me. “Krillin, I have to save him.” 

“I know,” I said. “But not like this. Not with the Senzu Beans. The North Capitol is close enough that you could reach it in a few minutes. Enough time that doctors will be able to patch him up.” 

“He could die,” said Goku, desperation in his voice. 

“Just as he could die on the trip to the Lookout,” I said. “GO!” 

Goku didn’t think twice. He changed direction, heading north-east.


	2. Chapter 2

“Hello, Mr Krillin,” said the man. He was tall, wearing a dark suite with a red trim, a white shirt that was a little garish against his auburn fur. “I’m Lieutenant Hallow and I’ll be questioning you about the events that occurred today.” 

The room around us was on the larger side, walls made from grey metal with only one window to the side. I could feel wells beyond, all around me, but they were underdeveloped, not strong enough that they could pose a true challenge if I was paying attention. But I had to pay attention. 

Raditz had been defeated because he hadn’t known the full measure of our ‘tricks.’ We’d used them to quickly counter him, tearing through the insurmountable energy reserves that he had and made them redundant. It was very likely that the same could be achieved here, by the military and I had to be cognizant of that. 

“Is Raditz, the alien, okay?” I asked. 

“He’s still in critical condition,” Hallow replied. “But the Gero Foundation have finally arrived and their people are working on him which means that he’ll be alive long enough, at least, to give us information.” 

“I doubt he will,” I said. “He’ll be pissed more than anything, and he doesn’t necessarily need full body of motion to be able to destroy us all.” 

“And why is that?” asked Hallow, unbuttoning his blazer and taking a seat. 

I scowled in his direction. “Please don’t insult my intelligence,” I said. “I know you’ve been watching. You probably have an audio file of the entire thing in your information database.” 

Hallow shook his head. “That’s not how it works,” he said. “The Turtle Isles are under Lord Roshi’s patronage. Under law, no surveillance activities can take place there without his prior agreement. Hence why you are being questioned, to give us a greater picture so we might best deal with this situation.” 

I shrugged, not exactly believing what he was telling me but it didn’t matter. “Raditz is an alien, from a planet named Vegeta. Apparently, he was here for his brother, Goku. The one with the spikey hair.” 

“Mr Son,” said Hallow. “He’s an alien?” 

I nodded. “We didn’t know. He didn’t know. But it’s apparently so. It should have been obvious, quite honestly. What with the fact that he had a tail when he was younger, than he was sturdier than he should have been, and that he never got sick. But…” I shrugged. “So much happens in this planet that seems magical and this was easy to explain away. But that’s not the important part. Far from it. The important part is that we might have an invasion on our hands.”

With that I explained to him everything I knew. About the pieces that Raditz had filled in, about Frieza and the World Trade Organisation, that it was expedient for Vegeta’s forces to expect him here to finish off the work that Raditz couldn’t. 

“Earth needs to be able to protect itself,” I said. “Beyond what ever petty squabbles there are. The minor skirmishes between Emperor Pilaf and the Den, or the fighting to secure the Lord Lucifer’s land. Because there’s a greater threat out there and it’s even more powerful than the Demon King Piccolo.” 

“You paint a very vivid image,” he said, his voice sounding calm though watching his overall expression I could see that I’d had an impact on him. “But there are a few things I’m missing, a set of pieces in the greater picture. The Demon ‘King’ among them. Apparently, he still lives.” 

I nodded. “I’m surprised you’ve only now noticed.” 

“We are too,” said Hollow. “Looking at the records, at our surveillance. We should have noticed him sooner. He’s been alive for three years and in that time, he’s managed to grow younger. He’s walked in towns and cities and yet, it looks, we’ve been ignoring him, acting as though he’s not there. No mass panic, no call for the military to act. Just silence. Can you explain that to me?” 

“It could be a whole host of things,” I said. “It could be telepathy on a large scale, affecting everyone who doesn’t have a resistance, or it might be magic replicating the effects of telepathy. Geared towards Piccolo.” 

“Except it no longer works now,” said Hollow. “Or at least not in the same vein? We know that the Demon King was there, fighting with you, he was spotted flying near the East Capitol, we’re cognizant of that and yet he’s now just disappeared. That doesn’t make sense to us.” 

“To me too,” I said. “But then the information we have is limited.” I sighed, running a hand over my head. “Can I go now? I’ve got to speak to Goku, figure out how we’re going to deal with this.” 

Hollow looked towards the glass for a second before he nodded. I got up, following as he escorted me out of the building, past men dressed in black armoured clothing, bands that were made of segmented metal attached around their arms, and large shoulder pads made of the same blocky metal. 

A few flights of stairs and then I was out of the facility, a little outside of the North Capitol and configured fifteen minutes after we’d arrived. Looking at it, the large structure with myriads of people milling about, jets entering and leaving and the copious amounts of security making sure that Raditz would have a tough time escaping and that no one from the general populace knew what was going on. 

How different, how much harder would all of this be if Capsule Corp hadn’t invented their storage capsules? 

“There’s a barrier around this place to stop flier from being able to just enter at will,” said Hallow. “Use the exit and you should be fine.”

“Where’s Goku?” I asked. 

He agreed to being studied by the Foundation’s scientist. Learning about the physiology of the Saiyan race at its peak might help us come up with ways to exploiting their weaknesses. It helps solve this without needing to fight.” 

“I just told you about everything,” I said. 

“We work fast,” said Hallow, a smug grin on him. 

“That’s good,” I said. “What’s needed if we’re going to survive all of this.” 

He gave me a nod; his expression having turned serious. Hallow gestured and another military personnel escorted me to the exits where I was checked over and then let out of military installation; the outside was different from the inside, where the inside was ordered, there was a mill of activity from the Earth’s journalist. 

Far enough from the base and they started flooding forward before I jumped into the air. There was surprise from some while others reached into their pockets, running away from the group and releasing airships from their capsules. 

I sighed, pushing myself faster before the airships could get into the air. Luckily, they weren’t the same models as Bulma’s which meant they were slow enough that I could outpace them; I headed past the North Capitol and towards the mountains, fluctuating the energy running through me so that the cold wasn’t as bad. 

I concentrated, feeling out for wells until I found two; I had to change direction, moving into an ice storm. It helped me hide further from some of the more rambunctious reporters that were still chasing me. I veered down, looking until an idea popped into my head of a location and direction, no doubt Chiaotzu. 

It didn’t take long before I found the base hidden within a cave. 

“Krillin,” said Tien, his expression grim. “I’ve been itching to know what’s been going on. No one has that much energy that I know about. Who was that?” 

“Raditz, an alien,” I said, “and Goku’s brother.” Their expressions shifted. I told them everything that had happened, the plans that I’d already pushed into play with the military and everything that I’d had Bulma prepare before everything was a head. 

“That was dangerous,” said Chiaotzu. “You telling them our weakness.” 

“I told Bulma that weakness,” I said. “And anyway, it’s needed. It poses a danger to us, sure, but…It was looking like the humanity might be destroyed and I didn’t know what Piccolo and Goku were planning. It made the most amount of sense to have that on the back burner.” 

“I know,” said Chiaotzu, a sigh behind the words. “But…” He sighed again. “This does away with a secret that’s been kept for as long as there have been Ki practitioners, and with the secret spread across a few people the magic that keeps the secret is waning.” 

“The magic?” I said. 

“Master Roshi didn’t tell you?” said Tien. “It was decided by the first Ki practitioner, that since they initiated so much change they would be open to assassination. The easiest was the hack of surface area and energy concentration. So, the Ki practitioners came together with witches to cast a spell that would put a mental barrier around the world, one that would ensure no one thought about the specifics of how we might be dealt with.” 

“The same sort of spell that that’s been keeping Piccolo hidden,” I said. “But the only powerful witch that’s still alive is Baba. Does this mean Piccolo and Baba have been working together?” 

“Or is it Kami and Baba?” said Chiaotzu. “If Piccolo dies then he dies. He’s got a great incentive to ensure that Piccolo stops being chased. The question is, what happens now that its magic would be waning? Piccolo might lash out.” 

“He said he wouldn’t,” I said. “The Earth’s in threat. He won’t be able to take over this place if a much stronger race comes and levels it. But then, he could just leave. Kami and Piccolo are aliens too, apparently, Namekians.” 

“The Guardian of Earth, an alien,” said Tien. “That’s worrying.” 

“That’s surprisingly xenophobic of you,” I said. 

Tien shook his head. “That’s not it. Kami and Piccolo are refugees, which means that it’s likely the reason they’re here in the first place is because something happened to their planet. It’s possible that they’re the last of their species and if that’s the case, then, when it comes down to it, Kami might work for Piccolo’s benefit while sacrificing some of the more abundant humans.” 

“It’s certainly in the realm of possibility,” said Chiaotzu. “But it goes against what we know of Kami. He helped in the war against the Demon King Piccolo.” I nodded, looking at Tien. 

He shrugged. “Maybe all of this just has me on edge,” he said. 

“It’s that wariness that’ll save us,” I said. “It’s worth investigating at least. I’ll ask Master Roshi to talk to Baba, get information on the spell that’s cloaking Piccolo. I’ll also have to put in some research, things that might point us to Piccolo killing innocents in the three years of his silence. But I doubt there’s anything there. Goku’s been watching him.

“But that’s not the full reason I’m here. We have work to do. The army is currently working to bolstering their force, in raw numbers and the tech involved to defeat whatever armada might be coming our way. Bulma’ll no doubt be using the information I gave her to form tech that might work to killing a Ki practitioner. We have to do the same, increasing the amount of Ki practitioners alive in the world.” 

“Another risk,” said Chiaotzu. “Humanity has been destroyed once before by too large a concentration of Ki practitioners.” 

“That’s something we’ll have to look out for in the long term,” I said. “But we don’t have long term. At least…I think I might have something. Stretching the amount of time that we have. Something Goku mentioned. In the meantime, will you start gathering potentials?” 

Tien nodded. “I’ll call Yamcha so we can get on that,” he said. “Chiaotzu?” 

Chiaotzu nodded, though both didn’t go into what he was exactly worth doing that no doubt they’d discussed telepathically. 

888

All at once it was as though a wall that had been built around his mind was broken, and from within there was a rush of information he hadn’t ever thought to think. 

“You bastard,” he muttered to himself as he flew, the wind rushing past him and the scenery below almost fluid in appearance. 

The demon…no, Namekian, pulled energy and fortified his body, countering the forward momentum to come to a sudden stop. He looked around until he got his bearings and then he flew, pulling more energy so that his body was stronger and he could fly faster. 

He passed over cities and towns and villages, long stretches of desolate land and even larger stretches of ocean before day turned to night, the weather getting closer and the air filled with a tingle of electricity from the ever-present storm of Yunzabit Heights. 

As though his mind had always been hungry for the information, it came to the fore, the layout of the land of the massive island; as the island came closer Piccolo reoriented himself, choosing the path and heading for a mountainous region before he saw it. 

It should have been white but it wasn’t, instead it was green with moss, it’s legs long and spindly. He flew down, landing just under the ship and, screaming above the wind, said, “Open,” in the old tongue. 

A slot detached itself, dropping down and forcing him to fly to the side. Piccolo stepped on it and said, “Close.” 

Too fast the slot jumped up and the weather changed around him. Instead of wind he was in a tepid environment. There was a shudder and then a hum, lights coming on around him. The room he stood in was small, not something that he could comfortably live in. There was another his as slots in the wall popped open, small nozzles extending and a green, syrupy liquid spraying. 

Piccolo didn’t move, letting the liquid spray over him. Ten minutes in total passed before the slots closed and other opened, this time the liquid had the consistency of water though it dried faster than normal water should. 

The process done, a section of the wall hissed as it slid back, leading to a short hall with doors at either side and staircase leading up. 

The Namekian roved through: Three rooms at the bottom, one of the with the feel of a library, the other a storage room and the last bare. Piccolo closed the doors and moved up the staircase, finding himself in the cockpit. 

“Systems on,” he said. There was another hum as light flooded, various projections appearing and showing streams of data that Piccolo couldn’t entirely understand. 

“Ship,” he said. “Plot the course to Namek.” 

The most central displayed showed a ream of data before it stopped, finally showing the destination in the known universe and the amount of time that it would take for the ship to reach Namek. 

“Well, you’re a bit far from home, aren’t you?” Raditz had said. “Why you’re here doesn’t matter much to me. But Vegeta will be interested at least. A way to get your stupid race of your asses and finally do something about the scourge. Lazy bums.” 

The words had resonated to Piccolo, how he used the present tense instead of past. He’d wanted more than anything to smile at the thought that his people were alive, that he could leave this planet with its wars and strife, returning to a much simpler life. 

It had also helped that this moment had been punctuated by the disappearance of a strong voice that had been ringing at the back of his head, telling him to conquer this world, to raze it to the ground and the rebuild it as his home. 

Instead now there was another path. But first. 

He pushed his mind outwards, beyond itself into the Astral Plane, the psychic dimension. Relative to his position, the Astral Plane was near empty, with only a few shining spots denoting the species of animals which called Yunzabit Heights their home; with how limited his telepathic range was, Piccolo could only see a small patch of the Astral Plane, though that didn’t matter given what he was going to do. 

He and Kami shared the strongest of bonds any living person could share, and that bond ensure that the two of them could always communicate in the Astral Plane. Piccolo reached down to the chain wound around his waist and tugged; the thing glowed a bright red as energy flowed through it, then Kami appeared. 

“Counterpart,” said Piccolo. 

“Piccolo,” the god returned. “It’s strange to have been contacted through our psychic link. It makes me think that something dire has occurred.” 

“I found out that you magically bound my mind,” said Piccolo, shrugging at the words. “I suppose you could say that.” 

Kami let out a long sigh. “The invader said something, didn’t he?” Kami muttered. “You found the ship.” 

“We’re an alien,” said Piccolo. “We left our home world. That’s all information that you hid from me.” 

“To protect you and the Earth,” said Kami. “The difference between you and the original Piccolo, is that he knew where we came from, which is the reason that he could destroy under the premise of creating a new Namek. I had thought, that King Piccolo’s pre-programming might have less of a hold if you thought of this as your home. And it has.” 

“If you mean constantly roaming this world with the sense that something is wrong,” said Piccolo, his voice of restrained anger. “That I have to rebuild it but not knowing what to rebuild has made me question my existence over and over.” 

“It’s only in questioning one’s existence that we can become who we’re truly meant to be,” said Kami. “King Piccolo sought to gain immortality through you. But the technique he perverted was never geared towards that, and instead he pushed ideas on who you were supposed to be.

“The task I gave you is harder. One I’ve seen countless humans battle with throughout their entire lifetimes and die on the other end having not found who they’re supposed to be, their purpose in this life. But those who do find their purpose, are all the better for it.” 

Piccolo let out a long sigh and then he shook his head. “That’s become irrelevant,” he said. “Our people still live. At least enough that they’re a presence in the greater universe.” 

“That’s impossible,” said Kami. “I remember the storm, it came too swiftly and suddenly for action to be taken. The homes that had personal ships were few and far between and it was all I could do to even make my way here before they got too fierce to leave.” 

Piccolo shrugged. “I don’t know about all that,” he said. “But I know that I’m going back. I want to be amongst others of our race. I want to be away from the humans and their complicated lives. I want peace.” 

“The Earth’s in crisis,” said Kami. “Piccolo, your home needs you.” 

“This is not my home!” Piccolo took a breath. “This is not my home. I’m a refugee here. I don’t fit in. But there…” 

“You’d still be an outcast,” said Kami. “The technique I did to split myself and King Piccolo apart is forbidden. It is something that would not be overlooked by our species. You would be treated as a lesser creature.” 

“Which is why I called you,” said Piccolo. “Let us merge and do away with this planet. You must miss our home as much as I do, perhaps more so in your case because you actually remember it.” 

“I cannot leave the Earth in crisis,” Kami said, head shaking. 

“Nor can you actually help. You’re old and you’re weak. You wouldn’t be able to hold your own against the weakest of Goku’s friends much less the coming threat. You are not needed here. Even now the humans are already moving and to fight against the coming invasion.” 

“I know,” said Kami. “I have seen. But their efforts will be futile because they can’t reach the power needed to overcome the coming threat.” Kami let out a long sigh. “We are short on time. When your attack landed the Saiyan, Raditz, I peeked into his mind and felt as he condensed information, sending it outwards. The others know he has been defeated and will be making their way here for the dragon balls.” 

“Isn’t it better, then, that we not be here in the first place?” said Piccolo. “In that way, they won’t have the power that having access to the dragon balls will grant.” 

“You know that won’t be the case,” said Kami. “They will destroy this world. I cannot live with that in my conscious, which is why I have a proposal.” Kami took a breath, looking older when he let it out. “I will merge with you today, giving you full control of our body if you do two things: Stay on the Earth for two years before going home.” 

Piccolo was quiet for a moment, considering before he said, “What’s the other?” 

“That you kill Goku,” said Kami. “I’ve already set things up. You’ll understand when you’ve fully incorporated the memories.” 

“Fine,” said Piccolo. “I’ll do it.” 

“Then come to the Lookout,” said Kami. “Focus on it and you’ll find you know where it is. Now, I have to go and speak to my successor.” 

And with that, Kami disappeared. 

888

“We’ve got a year and six months,” said Bulma.

“How do you know that,” I asked. 

“This,” she said, pulling out the device Raditz had been wearing. “It’s some sort of energy scanner with a neural interface. The moment I put it on it changed its functions so that I could use it. I looked through its logs and there was a cache of information sent from the scanner to the ship. I spoke with the military so we could work together on this and they let me look through the ship’s logs. The information was a recording of everything that was said during Raditz’s arrival on Earth.

“Calculations from the ship say that it’ll take six months for the information to reach the other side and, going by the time it took for Raditz to reach Earth, it’ll take a year for his reinforcements to arrive. That’s the amount of time we have before we have an invasion on our hands.” 

I let out a long breath. “I might have a way of stretching the amount of time we have,” I told her. “Something Goku told me. How I could get stronger only Kami wouldn’t let that me since it wasn’t serious enough. I think this qualifies.” 

“Do you have specifics?” she asked. 

I shook my head. “I was supposed to talk him yesterday but I spent much of the day going through Piccolo’s history. Tien and Chiaotzu opened my eyes up to the possibility that Kami might have Piccolo’s best interest above that of humanity.” 

“What did you find?” 

“That our fears were unfounded,” I said. “Piccolo’s spent most of his time just roaming. The magic that’s been clouding everyone is starting to fade and it was easier getting information, for that matter I think Piccolo might be in for some trouble if the spells aren’t reapplied. Anyway, I was going to talk to Kami today before you called me over.” 

“Let me not hold you, then,” said Bulma. “There’s a race going on to find Goku’s pod ship. The military knows that Capsule Corp is much better at this sort of tech and we’ll be the first to have a working ship. They want to control that.” 

“A lot of work, then?” 

Bulma nodded. “Be seeing you?” 

I nodded and then moved, getting out of the compound and pointing towards the Lookout. It took a few hours before I could see the large building hanging in the air and within I could feel three distinct wells of power. Flying higher I saw Tien and Chiaotzu, the latter of which was wearing robes that looked similar to Kami’s, and Piccolo, Kami and Mr Popo. 

As I watched, Kami took a step forward and into Piccolo, and then felt as Piccolo’s well stretched, filling with energy and quickly exceeding Raditz’s well. The process was over quickly and when it was done, Piccolo stood alone where he and Kami had been before. 

“What’s going on? What just happened?” I said as I landed. “What happened to Kami?” 

“I’m the new Kami now,” said Chiaotzu. “My predecessor thought this was the best chance we had at victory and feeling Piccolo’s well, I see he wasn’t wrong.” 

“But this much power, in his hands?” I said. I scowled in Piccolo’s direction. He didn’t seem to be paying us any attention, only looking down at his hands and clenching them at intervals. “Can we even trust him?” 

“You can trust that I don’t want the Earth destroyed,” said Piccolo. “Which is why this needs to be done.” 

At the words, I was already pulling in power and pushing myself back. Piccolo was faster and was immediately behind me; I pushed energy through my body, bracing for the impact. It landed, a sharp hit to my neck and sapping a large amount of my reserves; I twisted, already kicking but Piccolo surged back, landing and jumping back as a flood of light slammed into where he’d just been standing. 

The attack had come from Tien, who was standing with his hands holding a triangle in front of him. 

“Try—” Tien started only for a psionic punch to land, the arm extending from Chiaotzu. “Chiaotzu, what—”

I didn’t listen, being forced to jump to the side as Piccolo tried to hit me again. I landed in a roll and quickly came to my feet, energy flooding into my hands; Piccolo appeared in front of me before I could release the ball of energy, grabbing at my neck. 

The world became darkness.

Wake up. 

I jerked awake at the command, seeing Chiaotzu and Mr Popo standing over me. I felt rested and alive, with my well fully restored. I’d used a lot of energy between my flight to the Lookout and my small defence against Piccolo, that they had fully regenerated meant I’d been unconscious for a day in the least. 

I pulled energy into my body and pushed myself back, coming to a stand and in a fighting stance. Chiaotzu, using his telekinetic ability to keep himself in flight, pushed himself back, the barriers around him getting thicker and syrupy; Mr Popo had moved a little, putting himself slightly in front of Chiaotzu. 

“You let Piccolo attack me,” I said, anger lacing my tone. “You stopped Tien. Why?” 

“Because it was needed,” said Chiaotzu, his voice cold. “Come with me into the Astral Plane and my predecessor will tell you everything.” 

“Kami? But he merged with Piccolo,” I said. “What the hell is going on?” 

“Enter the Astral Plane and you’ll find out everything,” said Chiaotzu. “There’s an information cache there. I think he’ll let you hear what he has to say.” 

I shook my head. “I can’t. I’m not that good at telepathy that I can traverse the Astral Plane,” I told him. “The best I can do is mount a defence, that’s all.” 

“I can guide you in there,” he said. 

Again, I shook my head. “I don’t think I can trust you with that. Not without knowing what’s happened since Piccolo knocked me out. Or why he knocked me out in the first place.” 

Chiaotzu let out a sigh. “Then this becomes a lot more complicated,” said Chiaotzu. “Because when I tell you, emotion will no doubt cloud you from hearing the next steps in the plan. But, at any rate, it must be done, this must be said. Goku and Tien are dead. Piccolo killed the former and I, the latter.” 

Anger filled me and I moved forward with a roar, power condensing in my fist. Mr Popo took a step forward and grabbed my fist, instantly the energy held within disappearing. Mr Popo turned too fast, his leg extending and then he kicked; it was too much power and I hadn’t braced for it. I was pushed back and slammed into the other side of the room. 

Pain erupted but fought through it, quickly getting to my feet and pulling in more energy. 

“Why!” I said, my voice a roar, and energy running off me in waves. My hands clenched and I could hear slight crackling come from them. Chiaotzu’s psionic barrier had only gotten thicker. 

“Because we need power, assured power,” said Chiaotzu, his voice still calm, “and this is a good way of getting it. Goku and Tien are great warriors, enough that they were accepted into the North Kai’s training realms. Through him we’ll have access to new techniques that may help us in fighting the coming threat.

“Kami’s plan was that only Goku would be killed, but having read your mind I know the timeline we’re working with. In six months Tien will be wished back to life, after which, in a year, we’ll wish back Goku. Between that and the Time Chamber, we should be able to amass enough force to stop the initial wave, Frieza will be another story.” 

“The Time Chamber?” 

Chiaotzu sighed. “This would be so much faster in the Astral Plane,” he said. “Come on, Krillin. We’re friends. I would never hurt you. Even Tien I killed with his permission. I’m not going to hurt you now.” 

“I just don’t get why you felt the need to let Piccolo knock me out,” I said. “If Goku was willing to die then I was going to accept that. There’s something more isn’t there?” 

Chiaotzu shifted a little and that was answer enough. “What did you do? What did Piccolo, do?” 

“He took Gohan from Chi-Chi,” said Chiaotzu. 

The first impulse was to be angry and then I remembered that even if I flew out of here to go and Gohan back, I wouldn’t be powerful enough to take him away from Piccolo. Which meant I had to be powerful in order to make sure that my godson wasn’t hurt by that monster. 

“Take me to the Time Chamber,” I said, a scowl directed at Chiaotzu. “Now.” 

He nodded. “Hopefully you’ll spend the year there. There’s magic around the room that makes sure you can only enter the room three times in a lifetime. If you don’t finish the full year then you’ll have wasted your first attempt into the room. Reconsider this. My predecessor found that it’s easier to go through the full year when a person isn’t there alone.” 

“Then call Yamcha,” I said. “But make it quick. In the next ten minutes, I’m going into the room.” 

Chiaotzu gave a nod. “Mr Popo, go and retrieve Yamcha, and lead them to the room. I’ll be in the Throne Room, with the Sight I’m hoping I’ll be able to see whatever the Gero Foundation’s hiding.” 

In a matter of a few minutes Yamcha and I were in the room and all I could think was, big.


	3. Chapter 3

“Wolf Fang Fist!” 

The words were said and all at one I was on the defensive; a red syrupy substance appeared around Yamcha’s hands, reforming so that if formed claws, then he stepped forward through the air, slashing and forcing me to dodge. It was too slow and the claw ran over my skin, parting it and causing a lance of pain to run through me. 

As quickly as I could, though not quickly enough, I offloaded the pain into a mental projection who I pushed off into my perimeter of the Astral Pain. My range wasn’t large yet, but it was enough that I could off load a few avatars before they overlapped and returned my pain. 

I tried to focus enough that I could dodge but Yamcha was moving too fast, one motion blending into the other in an unpredictable fashion. Each motion causing cuts to appear and more pain to flood through my system. 

This was Yamcha’s ultimate attack, flooding his system with Ki so that he was fast enough that he could even outmatch me, who had more energy to burn than he. I did my best to protect myself but I didn’t push too much energy into defence, instead letting the attack run its course. 

And when it did, Yamcha pausing for a millisecond to catch his breath, I moved on the offensive; a punch that Yamcha tried to parry but he was too slow. The punch landed and he was forced back; he landed on the ground, choosing his stance while I hurtled forward. I punched and he parried, trying to get in a punch but I wove to the side, extending a leg and hitting him in the side. 

He slid pack, pulling energy from his well and forcing himself to stop. His eyes glowed a bright red and I hissed as I felt one of my pain avatars disappear and the pain flooding back with more intensity. He was better than me at fighting on the Astral Plane which meant I had to ensure he fought here. 

Energy flooded into my hands and I pushed it forward.

The salvo left and Yamcha was forced into the air, weaving to dodge the beams; pushing himself further and all at once coming closer, in those moments that he was close my concentration waned as more pain lanced through: An attack on the Astral Plane. 

A glancing hit and Yamcha was sent spinning through the air. He quickly caught himself but a cluster of energy balls were already on him. Yamcha screamed, letting loose a concussive wave that detonated my energy balls before they could land. 

“Kamehameha!” I said, not even charging the attack enough. The ball of blue light flooded forward and Yamcha, too expanded from the concussive wave, couldn’t dodge. The ball hit and he was forced into the ground, at a mental command a semi-large detonation occurred; Yamcha’s energy well dropped to well into near nil as he expanded energy to protect himself. 

This was over. 

I landed and then immediately regretted it because I felt a splitting pain in my head. I stumbled back when my body immediately stopped, not moving. I focused, pushing my mind outward and into the Astral Plane; Yamcha was there, much larger than me with threads of red flowing from his fingers into my head. 

With a bellow, I sent out a psychic pulse that snapped off the psychic threads. I pointed a hand and focused, shooting out shafts of psychic force; Yamcha flew back and immediately out of my range, but I wasn’t out of his. Thick chains flew in from the darkness and I had to weave out of the way, landing and then forming avatars with the sole command to form telepathic shields. 

It worked, thick panes of blue-green glass appeared and they stopped most of the barrage of chains; giant hands appeared from the darkness and they slammed into my shields, strain causing cracks to run themselves all through the shield. 

Yamcha had more footing than me in the Astral Plane, his range was bigger and he understood how this dimension worked on an intrinsic level, making his attacks more powerful even if they were unrealistic, while the counter wasn’t true for me. If I wanted my attacks to be powerful, they had to be rooted in reality. 

I got into my stance and said, “Kamehameha!” 

The blue light flashed outwards, straight to where Yamcha should be but all at once the hands disappeared, the hands appearing on the opposite direction. I whirled around, preparing for another Turtle Wave but Yamcha was faster, his hands slamming into shields and shattering them. 

The four avatars disappeared.

The hands entered my range and pinned me down. I tried fighting back, pulling in power but that wasn’t how things worked here. Yamcha was too powerful, it had been a mistake to fight this out here in the first place. 

“I win,” said Yamcha, appearing close to my range. I gaped because the large thing was an avatar, not the real him. “Without your mind held in this place your body can’t act.” 

I nodded. “Something to work on. What do you think?” 

The arms disappeared and I stood. “Just form avatars to handle the fights in the Astral Plane,” he said. “When Chiaotzu was teaching me telepathy he said I should make a lot of if functions. Off-loading consciousness is hard, so the next best thing is telling your avatars what to do in a variety of ways. Like defence.” 

He formed an avatar.

“If attack, form shield,” said Yamcha. “Attack it.” 

I pointed a hand and the clone formed a shaft of red light to protect itself. 

“You can spread it out so that the commands are distinct.” 

I nodded. “I’ll work on it,” I told him, “and you should work the after effect the Wolf Fang Fist. You take a breath and that leaves an opening. One I’ve been using for the last month.” 

“Back to training?” said Yamcha.

“For me, sure,” I said. “You. I don’t think you have the reserves.” 

888

“They’ve been in there for half a day,” said Piccolo. “They might actually pull through.” 

Chiaotzu gave a nod. “Krillin works best if he’s driven by emotion,” he said. “Yamcha is more driven if he’s being forced into action. The former will help the latter. But when Krillin comes out, he’ll be pissed, at both of us.” 

“The Earth has to be protected,” said Piccolo. 

“Speaking of which. I need a favour. I need you to attack a Gero Foundation base in the North Capitol. He’s got a weapon there that he’s testing out. I believe that it would be better tested against a combatant. It’ll help if Capsule Corps sees it too, they might get ideas on a better design.” 

“I’d need something in return,” said Piccolo. 

Chiaotzu frowned. “What?” 

“Six months without you looking at me.” 

Chiaotzu let out a long sigh. “Will it help in the long term?” 

“I believe so. It will push the Earth towards action. It will quell an feuds between the natives.” 

“Then do it,” said Chiaotzu and he felt horrible because he could feel the direction Piccolo would take. Nothing would bring the Earth together faster than a tangible threat.

Piccolo gave a nod and then flew into the air, moving towards the North Capitol. Chiaotzu didn’t watch. 

888

“Well damn,” said Tien as he stood in the air, looking over Snake Way and seeing how the beast wound. “I didn’t think it would be this long.” 

Goku grinned, stretching before he said, “Race you there?” 

Tien couldn’t help but mirror it. 

888

“I don’t understand,” said Bulma and do as she might, she couldn’t hold back the slight quiver in her voice. 

“You do,” said Piccolo, standing tall with a cold expression on him. “You understand more than anyone else that this has to be done.” 

“But you’ll be killing people,” said Bulma. “If I worked with you I would be condoning that.” 

“My actions are my own,” said Piccolo. “For the first time in my three years alive. You can’t decide what I’m going to do, you can’t stop what I’m going to do, it makes the most amount of sense that you make the most of what’s going to occur.” 

“But—”

“Listen, Bulma. You have considerable scientific knowledge and you’re one of the few people on this Earth that I think is worth trusting. If there’s anyone who can understand the tech involved in building my ship and maybe fixing any bugs the past few centuries would have caused, it’s you.” 

“And my get away from this is?” said Bulma. “You’ll still be destroying portions of the Earth. That’s what I would want the most.” 

“You get to learn about a different form of space travel,” said Piccolo, “and I get to teach you how to access the Astral Plane. How it works, I feel, will make a few things make sense.” 

“The Astral Plane?” 

“The telepathic realm,” he said. “Every mind overlaps with it. It’s the place a telepathic practitioner uses when they want to reach the thoughts of other, infiltrate their minds, that sort of thing. It’s also the place a witch has to interact with if they want to cast a spell so that an idea isn’t thought about.” 

Piccolo took a step forward and Bulma recoiled. Piccolo didn’t heed this, instead making his arm lengthen so he could grab Bulma’s shoulder. The woman’s breath caught but she didn’t have time to feel fear, instead she felt awe at the world around her. 

Instead of a standing in her office she was now standing in a barren wasteland with a red tinge colouring it all, and within there was only the sight of people and other Piccolos who had threads of green running from their fingers, connecting to the people. 

“It’s how I’m stopping them,” said Piccolo. “Avatars placed through your building and sending the impulse for them to freeze. They’re set to disappear within fifteen minutes. Seven now.” 

“This is…Wait, who’s the other person?” she asked as she noticed for the first time that there was someone else there; a woman dressed in black, dark hair and skin, with shinning with threads moving from her fingers into the head of an employee.

“A week spell,” said Piccolo. 

All at once the world came back. 

“Do you accept?” 

“Do I have a choice? You could command it of me,” she said. 

Piccolo shook his head. “You wouldn’t do your best work, then,” he said. “It’s better this way.” 

Bulma let out a long sigh before she nodded. “I’ll do this. Even though it goes against every fibre of my being.” 

888

I stood at the centremost point in my range in the Astral Plane, around me a hodgepodge of beams that held my makeshift shelter. After nine months of trying and failing to fight against Yamcha, a self-described average telepathic combatant, I’d turned more defence. 

In the long run, it meant that I wouldn’t be able to turn my mind outwards to read others’ minds, but I didn’t mind. I didn’t have the stomach for telepathy as the others. But I could what I had to my best benefit. 

A bit of focus and I formed an avatar, a facsimile of my person; another bit of focus and pieces of blue green thread stretching from my fingers, moving through the air until they connected to my avatar’s head. The basic functions that Yamcha had taught me were: If, action; then, action; if not, then. 

I used that here to test something. 

If: Hear ‘Wolf Fang Fist’; then: Form telekinetic barrier. 

I detached the threads and stood back, watching the avatar. It didn’t look any different but that wasn’t how this worked. I pushed an image and a television set appeared just in front of me, showing a black screen, then speakers appeared at either side, connected to the television. 

I pulled back and out of the Astral Plane. I was in the House, a room that had a myriad of clocks on it. I moved out of the building, pulling in energy and pushing it throughout my body so that it compensated for the increased strain because of the warped gravity of the Lookout. Yamcha was in the air, trading of a flurry of red colour swipes against an invisible clone. 

His projection was larger than it had been when we’d started, which meant there was more bite behind his technique. I was a little worried though that we hadn’t used the time as best we could. Sure, our reserves had grown, but we hadn’t really developed new techniques that would catch Piccolo off guard, instead refining those we already had. 

But coming up with a new technique was a laborious process. 

“Hey!” I shouted. “I need to test something out! Mind giving me a hand?” 

Yamcha stopped his attack. “Sure!” he said, coming closer and landed. “What do you need?” 

“Attack me with the Wolf Fang Fist, I think I might have a defence against it,” I told him, “and if I do, then maybe I can stretch it out to other telekinetic attacks.” 

Chiaotzu’s in particular, I couldn’t help but think. 

“Okay,” said Yamcha and he took the appropriate stance. “Wolf Fang Fist!” 

Almost immediately a syrupy barrier formed around my skin. Yamcha swiped and his extended claws cut through my barriers as though they were nothing. Another swipe and against, my skin parted but my avatars took the brunt of the pain almost immediately; I’d learned enough that I could settle into a rhythm and push myself out of the way of the swipes and kicks, but I’d trusted that my shields would hold up. 

I pushed my mind until I saw where he would hit and dodged, getting out of the way until the technique ran its course. 

“Your barrier is too thin,” said Yamcha. “You haven’t been working on it consistently enough that it’ll be able to consistently cover your entire body.” 

“Easy counter, focusing my barrier into one place,” I said. “But that means I’ll have to know where my technique is going to hit or have a wide array of if functions and that might slow down the reaction time of the avatar.” 

“That’s always the trade off,” said Yamcha. “Instantaneous response that doesn’t do much or a delayed response that does what you want. Or you could make it broad as hell, the range I mean. Make it so that if it sees where a punch is going then it’ll bring up a barrier there. But then you’d have to spend hours giving it copies of your memories.” 

I sighed. “I guess I have no other choice,” I said. “But at least I know it works. In the remaining three months, I could spend my time just working on my telekinesis and broadening what my avatars can do.” 

888

A deal had been struck and Dr Gero had been lucky enough to already have a working deal with the government that he was allowed time to look at it. The device was simple: An ear device that had small suction cups at the rim and a glass lens that would go over the eye. 

A scouter that provided energy readings only from people.

“That shouldn’t be,” mutter Dr Gero as his mind ran over it all, what he’d seen. “And yet it was.” 

It was a new aspect to the world that he hadn’t known before. 

Everyone had these massive reserves of energy and, more than anything, the just automatically refilled at a consistent rate. He’d watched for hours as energy was expanded and then refilled, even asked the unknowing test subjects not to eat to see if this was connected to the amount of food they ate. 

But it wasn’t. Indeed, it looked like they could magically replenish energy from nothing. 

It made sense the more he thought about, that something like this existed, especially when he looked at the feats that had been pulled off by beings such as Son Goku and the Demon King. But why hadn’t he thought about it now? What hadn’t he thought to ask the right questions? 

“Thirteen,” he said looking up at the android who sat on the other side of the office, strapped to a series of wires that ensure he was watching the feeds from the drones Dr Gero had set throughout the world. “I need you to investigate something for me. Mental manipulation in all its forms, even if its connected to myth.” 

There had to be something wrong with himself if, for so long, he’d just never thought to ask. That, after all, was what science was about; knowing of a scientific law and then finding the explanation to that law. 

And yet he’d never thought to ask. 

“Found something,” said Thirteen, his voice a drawl of a now lost accent. An affectation he’d loved when he’d first integrated it, but now he didn’t find the use. It made Thirteen conspicuous. 

Dr Gero looked down, pushing his mind towards thinking about the—

“Boss,” said Thirteen, breaking his stream of thought. 

“Yes?” said the Doctor, feeling slightly annoyed that he was being interrupted. He only had a set amount of time with the scanner and should have been using this moment to focus entirely on it. He already had ideas about how he might incorporate the functions to future iterations of the androids, if he just figured out to rebuild the thing. 

“Boss,” said Thirteen, his voice insistent. Dr Gero looked at him. 

“What?” he snapped. 

“You’re compromised,” Thirteen said. “Priority Alpha.” The Doctor felt his heart shudder. “I might have a work around, information that’s been acquired from Capsule Corp. But it will take a week in the least before you can work past it.” 

Less time to work on the scouter, he thought but did not say aloud. Priority Alpha meant there was something very wrong, a gas in the air that made him suggestible or manipulation of another sort. By his own commandments, the androids had right to force him out of an action, disregarding his commands if they suspected a priority alpha. 

“Then let’s get started immediately,” he said. “Fourteen,” 

The large android stepped forward, his skin alabaster pale and his expression stoic. “I need you to work through decoding the programming on this thing. It’ll help us find a way to start the Saiyan’s ship without it.” 

Fourteen said nothing, but the task would be done.

888  
All at once the oppressive quality to the very air stilled. I stopped the punch I’d been throwing and looked quizzically at Yamcha. 

“Maybe the year’s ended,” he said. “It was close to it the last time I looked at the clocks.” 

It wasn’t a moment later that Mr Popo stepped into sight. “Your year has ended,” he said. “I’ve been asked to retrieve you by Kami.”

“Senzu beans then Piccolo?” I said. Yamcha nodded and we moved, escorted by Mr Popo through the Lookout and outside. Chiaotzu was there, looking toward the horizon and he didn’t look in our direction as we exited. 

As we flew, I peeked into the Astral Plane and the sight that I saw shook me: It was a castle large enough that it almost overlapped with my own piece of land in the Astral Plane, and framing the castle were two giant Chiaotzus who scanned the perimeter, shafts of light illuminating spots so far, I couldn’t see.

I pulled back, jumping off the Lookout and stopping when we were at Korin’s Tower. He gave us one Senzu Bean each and with that our bodies were as healed as they were going to be, our energy reserves filled out to capacity. 

“You know,” said Yamcha as we started flying towards West City. It was so liberating being in the relatively lower gravity of Earth, it meant I could fly faster without expanding too much of my reserves. “Asking Chiaotzu would have been so much faster.” 

“Would he have told us?” I said. “He didn’t seem to mind that Piccolo had taken Gohan in the first place.” 

“Or he knew that he wasn’t strong enough to build Piccolo and set this up,” said Yamcha. “I know I’ve enabled this the past year, but I don’t think you’ve even for a second looked at this from Chiaotzu’s point of view. He’s got to protect the entirety of the Earth, which means that one of the stronger people that we have shouldn’t be outcaste.” 

“Even at the expense of a child?” I asked and I couldn’t hold back the anger and frustration. I knew that the task in front of us was almost insurmountable, but that we’d lose ourselves in the process? 

Yamcha shrugged. “I’m not the one whose has the entirety of humanity to look after. Just…don’t be too pissed at him until you understand all of this. The deals he’s put in place. If I know Chiaotzu, then certainly he’s made sure that Gohan isn’t hurt by all this.” 

“Maybe,” I said. “Let’s just help Gohan. Show Piccolo that he isn’t the most powerful anymore and that we’ll be there to keep him in check.”

Yamcha nodded. 

We flew for a few moments before the West Capitol appeared in front of us, with the centremost building being the large mound of Capsule Corp. We headed down, moving through checkpoints before we could see Bulma. 

“Krillin,” she said. “You look…different. Your hair’s grown. How?” 

“I’ve been training to get back Gohan for the last year,” I told her. “Speaking of which. I need you to gear your satellites towards find him and Piccolo.” 

“Gohan and Piccolo? What?” Bulma shook her head. “If that had happened I’m sure Chi-Chi would have contacted me. Not to mention that I spoke to Piccolo about six hours ago. He didn’t mention anything about Gohan but…” Bulma let out a long sigh. 

“What he did mention was worrying,” she said. “He said he’d start attacking the world. Choosing a random location every two months and doing as much damage as he can.” 

“What? Why?” asked Yamcha. 

“Because he wants to test Earth’s defences,” she said. “He said that if Earth was going to survive a full scale invasion, then everyone needs to be working together. He’s going to force that by giving us a common, tangible enemy. Himself.” 

My stomach twisted, but I looked at Yamcha, thinking about what he’d said about Chiaotzu. Was the same being said for Piccolo? Did my biases mean I couldn’t see some merit in Piccolo’s ideas? 

“Do you think it’s going to work?” I asked Bulma. “What he’s doing?” 

Bulma let out a shrug. “Thinking about this as coldly as I can, there’s a merit there. People don’t often come together unless we have a common enemy. We saw how easily all the Lords came together, pushing money into the military when it came to reacting to the Demon King Piccolo. But that sort of reaction hasn’t been spurred on by the knowledge that we’re going to be invaded in a year and a half.

“But there’s the greater problem that what Piccolo will be doing isn’t as simple as he thinks it is. It’ll spur on innovation, sure, but it will lead to a greater sense of hopelessness which is about the worst thing that we can experience. It’ll make people unwilling to act when the true threat comes. I don’t think Piccolo understands human psychology enough that he thought through all this.

“Also, he’ll be destroying a lot of things. There’s only so much money can be pushed into all of this and it has to come from somewhere. The industries that might evolve will be different but there’ll be a little lag as everyone tries to assimilate to the new reality. We’re too short on time for his plan to work. Maybe if we had at least twenty then it would be something worth doing. But…” She shook her head. 

“If it’s not going to work then we have to convince Piccolo otherwise,” said Yamcha. “He talked to you, Bulma, which means he might be willing to talk to us. Maybe merging with Kami changed him.” 

Bulma shook her head. “I tried telling him all this,” she said. “After some time…We’re working on something together and he was here twice. He said that it was the only way that he could prepare humanity in the long run. Showing them their weakness.” 

“Fuck,” muttered Yamcha. 

I couldn’t help but internal mirror the sentiment. “We can’t kill him,” I said. “Because Tien and Goku are dead. It’s not like when Kami still existed and we could lock him in a vase, because this time he might take the dragon balls with him. There doesn’t really seem like there’s much we can do.” 

Was this how Chiaotzu felt when he thought it through? Seeing that there wasn’t really anything he could do in the grand scheme and just choosing to minimise the damage? How could we minimise the damage that would follow after this? 

I looked at Yamcha. “With Tien gone, our recruiter’s gone too,” I said to him. “We’ll have to reach out and start training people. Piccolo’s first attack will be two months from now. It’ll help the morale aspect if the Earth knows that there are people fighting back. That it’s possible to fight back.” 

Yamcha gave a nod and the both of us set off in separate directions.


	4. Chapter 4

Wells of energy were all around him, and yet it meant nothing because all he could focus on were the three large wells that were up in the air, moving too quickly for him to see much less coherently follow. 

Ben took in a long breath, conceptualising all the fear in his mind into a ball; with the breath out, he cast the ball outwards, not too far, because there was the chance that he might hit an innocent with the ball of fear and the unlikely risk that he might cause a heart-attack. 

It worked, the fear subsided but just as quickly he could feel a new fear starting to bubble up. Kami had said, during their telepathic training, that emotion was better off-loaded into a copy in the Astral Plane rather than sending it away; but Ben, it had been proved in the last two months, was not an adept when it came to manipulations in the Astral Plane. He hadn’t yet get to the point where he could push himself in. 

But he would learn. He would be like Kami and the Masters, powerful enough that he might be able to stand up to the Demon King if it were needed. Not now, though, because now he knew the Masters had been right in when they’d told them that they wouldn’t be fighting the Demon King, instead they would handle the city below. 

There was a crash and they there were within sight: The Demon King, tall and green, and Master Krillin, shorter and wearing orange, hair tied in a wolf knot and his face uncharacteristically stern as he moved. The Demon King swiped and Master Krillin shot back, gaining distance before he punched; a blue-green syrupy membraned shot out and wrapped around the Demon King, but he was quick to disentangle himself. 

The Master must have known this would be the case, because the split second was enough that he was able to drive forward again, sending a fist out that landed. The Demon King shot back and then punched, his arm stretching and clipping the Master as he tried to dodge. Master Yamcha chose that moment to appear and he was bathed in a red syrup, concentrated around his hands and shaped as claws. 

“—Fist!” Ben heard and then Master Yamcha was moving too quickly for him to follow, too fast for the Demon King to follow because each time there was a swipe, there was a reaction, pain writing itself across the Demon’s features.

And then it was over and the Demon King drove forward, punching and sending Master Yamcha flying back; the Master caught himself only to have to jump to the side as there was a flash of colour, an energy ball having erupted from the Demon’s mouth. 

Go! Ben’s mind shouted as he realised that he’d just been gaping at the fight. He looked away even as he heard the fighting continued, saw the arcs of light and discharges as they moved further up into the sky but he didn’t focus on any of that, instead he focused on the ball of energy that was steadily moving toward a building. 

He jumped off the roof, pulling in energy from his well and pushing it towards momentum; all at once he was flying rather quickly, with the wind rushing at his and the freezing rain slapping harshly against his skin. A second in flight and he saw that he wouldn’t be able to reach the energy ball and stop it in time, instead he had to change tasks; he stopped and pushed energy towards his hands, he didn’t even collect it too long before his hand thrust outward and small balls of energy was flew to where the Demon’s ball would be.

One of Ben’s balls hit the Demon’s attack and the things cause a cascade of detonations, they were too close to the building and portion of the building was blown away, wells of power suddenly disappearing as people died. 

His stomach fell, his mind going silent as he stared at the damaged he’d wrought. A chunk of the building was gone, fire having erupted in places and people screaming as they tried to find a way out. He hadn’t thought, instead letting instinct drive him and he’d over estimated how closely he’d lined his energy ball and their explosive potential. 

Not five minutes since everything had started and there was already so much damage, a portion of it because of him. 

Help! Help the people!

“Right, right,” Ben muttered, balling the emotion that made him stricken and throwing it into the Astral Plane without care.

He flew forward and down, heading towards a building before he stopped, glaring at the sky and already collecting energy and sending out; his salvo was more spread out this time, but it was too far apart and he missed the ball entirely. There was another flash of light from a detonation and wells that disappeared.

He looked at the building and then up in the air where flashes of light occurred at intervals. The Demon King was trying to destroy the city and he was succeeding because there were energy balls sent raining down and only being stopped by the other members of the guard. 

He looked in the direction he knew buildings had been destroyed; if he moved from his spot, choosing to save the innocents, then it was likely that more portions of the city might be destroy. Whether he wanted to or not, he had to condense this to raw numbers and choose the action that would save the highest number of people. 

He landed on a building, doing his best at not watching the Gero building, instead focusing on shooting beams out of the sky before they could get too close to another building. 

Five minutes passed before three sleek black jets slid through the air, missiles shooting out and forcing the three combatants to scatter; there was a scream and then two missiles detonated, there was no flickering out of any well, which meant the Master and the Demon King were still alive. The cracks of rotors filled the air and helicopters appeared, much slower and choosing a much further vantage point than the jets, while still firing missiles when the Demon King was further up in the sky. 

The Demon noticed this and quickly angled the fight so that it was downward, landing in the streets and fighting it out with the Masters where only they could follow. They were far enough that they were specks on the ground, and then they were in the air between buildings with the Demon on the backfoot; then they were further up and then they were suddenly in front of Ben moving faster than he could collect himself to put distance between himself and them. 

The Demon wove under a punch from Master Yamcha, pushed the man up with his body and the lunged forward at Ben; he moved to dodge but the green claws was already his neck—Master Krillin was suddenly there, his hand pushing the Demons to the side. It had been a feint to get Master Krillin near because the Demon drove a knee forward and it landed. 

The Demon’s hands clasped together and slammed against Master Krillin’s back, sending him ploughing down and through the ceiling of the building below. The Demon glared, his eyes glowing and Ben’s training kicked in. He fell to the side and rolled to his feet before driving forward, punching; the Demon King stepped to the side, getting closer and the kicking. Ben had seen it coming and he’d pulled in energy, all of it to his stomach to fortify his body, and yet it still hurt. He was thrown back, his energy reserves having dipped beyond anything he’d felt in such a short period.

And then he screamed as he slammed against something hard, feeling it yield and then pieces run over his skin, all of them parting it. He slammed against the ground, skidding back and slamming into something hard before he finally stopped. He tried to get up, but pain flashed at points all over his body.

It was too much too quickly, but he’d been trained. He curled all the pain into a ball and shoved it into the Astral Plane, pushing himself to his feet and looking around him. He was in an empty office building with a section of the glass that looked beyond gone. 

The Demon King and the Masters were back in the air, fighting and dodging the military as though one of them hadn’t just been punched through a building. All the while he was barely holding on, his well almost empty from the one kick from the Demon King.

The goal is beyond that, he thought. Is there even a chance that we might be able to reach it? 

888

“We didn’t lose anyone,” said Yamcha. “At least no one in the Guard. We still couldn’t help the damage that he was able to inflict on the city.” 

“He was holding back,” I said, looking out at the Lookout. There were forty of our students stretched out on the ground, most of them sparring while others were in deep meditative trances, no doubt traversing the Astral Plane. “He fought one of the students and the kid wasn’t killed by his kick.” 

“He is trying to better our defences,” Chiaotzu said, hanging in the air, his telekinetic membrane surrounding him. “If he killed them after just two months he’d be doing a disservice to his goal of protecting the Earth.” 

I let out a long breath, after returning from our sabbatical in the Time Chamber, I’d traversed the Astral Plane and connected to Kami’s cache of information. From there I learned the intricacies of the plan with the North Kai and the plan he’d quickly put together when Piccolo had threatened to leave the Earth, going back to Namek. 

“I still don’t like the way he’s going about it,” I said, repeating something I’d said numerous times in the past two months. Ever since the possibility that there might be other sets of dragon balls in the universe, I’d had it in mind to just do the Earth a favour and kill Piccolo, instead seeking out planet Namek’s dragon balls. 

But I’d been beat by circumstance. We didn’t have a space-faring ship yet. The only ships we had were ones we couldn’t entirely understand and Piccolo’s which needed a lot of repairs, not that Bulma will have been willing to part with it. 

“We can’t change that,” Chiaotzu quickly said. “Thankfully at least it’s working. We know that the Gero Foundation’s done work on their fire power and it could help us when we have to fight the Saiyans.” 

“Yeah,” muttered Yamcha. “But I don’t like how they weren’t exactly particular with who they were shooting at during the fight.” 

“They’re testing things out,” said Chiaotzu and he had a scowl set. “The magic behind the whole bullet thing has waned enough that it’s possible they can see it as a viable measure.” He looked in my direction. “I told you something like this might happen.” 

“I know and I don’t doubt my decision,” I said. “If protecting the Earth means that I might die, I’m all for it. At least my machinations aren’t putting innocent lives at risk.” 

Chiaotzu looked as though he’d be struck and I could see Yamcha looking between us, as though he wanted to say something but wasn’t sure what. Chiaotzu took a long breath, closing his eyes before he opened them and looked at our students. 

“The word of the attack is just starting to pass throughout the world,” said Chiaotzu, it was better for the both of us I we stopped this before it devolved. “I think we have a day or two, leaving them reeling before we can recruit another batch.” 

“I’ll get on that,” said Yamcha. “Matter of fact, Krillin. We should be getting to Bulma’s. See how she’s been doing and what ideas she might have with the little peek of the Gero’s tech.” 

I gave a nod and the both of us tore through the sky. Yamcha shot me looks at times but he didn’t say anything throughout our flight. We were regulars enough that we bypassed many of the security measures in place and were quickly in Bulma’s personal lab where the Namekian ship stood as the centrepiece with a myriad of people working on it. 

“Guys,” she said with a smile. “What do I owe the visit?” She looked a little harried, but there was an excited glint in her eyes. 

“The first attack happened last night,” said Yamcha. “Piccolo attacked a coastal city just north of the North Capitol.” 

Bulma’s smile disappeared. “Anyone dead?” 

“Just civilians,” Yamcha said. “Some of our people got roughed up but it wasn’t too bad. Anyway, the Gero Foundation showed some new tech during the clean-up, body suits that help people flying but they didn’t look like they had any sort of propulsion system. Enhanced strength and I think they could manipulate the telekinetic force to a small degree.” 

“Of course, they can,” Bulma muttered, running a hand over her face. “Clever bastards.” 

“Clever how?” I asked, curious even with the mix of emotions I felt whenever I thought about the people who’d died. 

“Gero knows about the Astral Plane,” she said. “I have a person there feeding me intel. Not pretty,” she said, “but he’s doing it too at Capsule Corp. It would be naïve if I didn’t play the games too. Anyway, he’s clever because this way he isn’t interacting with magic in anyway. 

“He’s using alien technology as a driver to his innovation while I’ve been limiting myself to the Namekian ship’s engine. It’s like you guys in a respect, it pulls in energy from seemingly thin air; this is impossible, of course, but it isn’t and it’s happening and I think the particular witch that did the spell is strong enough that I can’t find them on the Astral Plane much less break their work.” 

“You could ask Chiaotzu to break it for you,” said Yamcha. 

Bulma frowned and then let out a breath. “There’s another spell there, too,” she said. “Now that you’ve mentioned it my mind sees it as an avenue, but I still don’t know where he is so it’s…Give me a sec.” 

I followed and pushed myself into the Astral Plane. We were so close together that our ranges overlapped, but that I’d built physical barriers around my mind meant I couldn’t see what she was doing; I focused and a window opened that gave me a view of beyond, but immediately it disappeared as my avatars moved, replacing the ‘damaged’ area with thicker walls. 

I wouldn’t be able to see and help her with my current configuration of avatars, and with how long it had taken to set them up, I wasn’t willing to mess with them and risk breaking what I’d one. I pulled back and watched as she and Yamcha stood in space, distant expressions on them while they worked beyond. 

“Okay this is boring,” I muttered to myself and then started to look around. I didn’t get too close because I could see from the twists of expression from the Capsule Corp workers, how they were angry and apprehensive and confused at my presence; the ship was several leagues larger than me, standing on thick white legs that ended at sharp points that dug into the floor. 

Beyond the legs was an opened hatched and when I looked down I could see a panel on the floor. There were thick tubes running from the ground into the ship and when I looked, the tubes led off to large glass panels filled with a variety of liquids; there were another set of tubes but these were much thinner and they were connected to a series of large and bulky computers. 

There was another room to the lab but it was closed off, the only point that I could see through being a thick pane of glass. Beyond was another mess of tubes, all of them littered across the room, moving through the walls and towards points I couldn’t see; they were all connected to an invisible membrane on a sphere which held a spinning metallic ball with smaller marbles sized balls on it, they shone with a white light. 

“Is that the engine?” I asked a woman that was looking at the glass and jotting down notes on a tablet.

She gave me a long-suffering look before she nodded. 

“What are the tubes for?” I asked, ignoring that I was interrupting her. I didn’t know anything about science but the engine was so different from anything I knew that it was interesting. 

“The ship can wirelessly transfer energy,” the woman said. “But that function only happens when it’s in the engine room. We haven’t figure out why, yet, we think it might be magic but figuring it out has been…hard. We’re using the… ‘tubes’ to keep the ship functioning. 

“The panels on the end of the tube absorb the light being cast by the small balls, converting it into electricity. It runs through the tubes and is fed off into slot in the engine room’s walls.” 

“Okay,” I said. The woman stopped looking at me and then looked back down at her notes. “Why is it odd?” The woman sighed as she looked at me. “What the ship is doing? Bulma said it was pulling in power from seemingly nowhere.” 

The woman gave me a long look, probably aghast before she said, “It breaks how the world works. It implies that energy can be created.” 

“Can’t it?” I asked. 

“No,” she said. “It cannot. Energy can only be changed from one form into another,” she said. “Potential energy into kinetic into sound, heat all other forms. It’s the basis to which the universe works.” 

“Okay,” I said and then I held out a hand, pulling in energy and pushing it into a ball. “It’s not exactly creation but I think it might be like the thing the engine’s doing. I’m pulling energy from my well and reforming it into an energy ball; but I can feel as my well is being slowly restored. I don’t know where that energy is coming from, but it might be created.”

“That’s…” The woman shook her head. “Okay,” she said, breathing slower and closing her eyes. “Okay. Okay. The world isn’t working the way I think it should be working. It’s not the world that’s the problem, instead it’s how I view it.” 

She opened her eyes. 

“Can you give me a moment?” she said. “I’ll be right back.” 

I nodded and watched the spinning ball beyond. When she returned, she was wearing a very large headpiece, she tsked under her breath. 

“I don’t know why I didn’t make the connection even sooner,” she said. 

She looked at the ball and I heard a beeping coming from the headpiece. She started jotting down more notes. 

“It works similar to you,” the woman said. “Similar to what the files say is true for the alien Raditz. Thinking on it, this is strictly a hypothesis, I think that you might be a beacon of some kind, getting in energy from another dimension.” 

“You too,” I interrupted. She stopped to look at me. I repeated, “You too. You have a connection to this other dimension. Your well is smaller than mine, but you have a well. With a bit of training, you could be able to use that energy to do everything a Ki practitioner can.” 

“Which is what exactly?” she asked. 

I shrugged. “Fortify your body to become stronger, faster or more resilient, create energy balls or form clones, increase brain function—though that’s harder—flight and I’ve heard that magic is just an offshoot of the Ki Arts, and I don’t think there are limits to what it can do.” 

“Energy into other forms of energy, probably into matter too,” she said. She suddenly took in a large breath and, looking excited, said, “Why haven’t I thought about this before…unless, of course.” She jotted down fervently on her notes and then smiled at Krillin. “Thank you,” she said. “This has helped me.” 

I nodded, a little off put that I didn’t know how I had helped, but pushed it aside. Bulma and Yamcha had returned from the Astral Plane, disturbed by the woman who’d jotted down the notes. Yamcha moved away from the two and towards me. 

“It’s Mr Popo’s magic,” he said. “He’s very hard to escape. He’s powerful. Noticed that some of his work is on me too while I was trying to disentangle the threads on Bulma.” 

I let out a long sigh. 

“I’m starting to get a little tired of all the mental spells that are affecting us,” I muttered. “It’s holding things up. Do you think it would be a good idea if we wiped the slate clean? I’m sure Baba could manage it.” 

Yamcha shrugged. “I’m not good with big plans,” he said. “I’ll leave that to you and Chiaotzu.” 

“I’ll look into it,” I said. 

888

“Kami,” muttered Tien as he stared. It was a strange sight, seeing the planet. It was very much large and yet it was so small. So much so that no doubt it would be able to see the curvature of the place as he stood on the planet.

“You think we’ll be able to fly up there?” asked Goku. “None of the strange magic on Snake Way?” 

Tien shrugged. “Only one way to find out. Test it out?” 

Goku nodded and then took a breath. He shook his head. “Nope, can’t fly,” he said. “Maybe we’re supposed to jump.” 

He didn’t even think twice before he bent low and then pushed himself up. He moved faster than he should have and then faster still. He couldn’t stop himself and the hit the side of the planet face first. 

Jump high enough and the effect of the planet’s gravity took effect? he thought before he too jumped and felt the enormous amount of pull exerted by the planet. 

He pulled energy to stop himself but there was just too much force pulling him and it wasn’t enough. He twisted and landed feet first, feeling a twinge running through his legs but landing with much more grace than Goku. He grinned at the man who was slowly moving to find his feet with great difficulty. 

“By the Kais,” said a sharp voice. “I thought it would take you longer to get here. Let’s begin the training. Catch the monkey,” the small golden bug pointed towards a monkey.

“King Kai?” said Goku. 

“No,” said the bug. “Gregory. King Kai’s busy. He won’t train you lot until he sees you’re worth the time. Now get to it.” 

“Fine. Fine,” Tien muttered. He pulled energy, more than he should have to move around, but said monkey didn’t seem to be having that much trouble. “This is going take forever, isn’t it,” he muttered as he watched Goku moving beside him.

“Yeah,” said Goku. “Just wish they’d had the decency to feed us before the training began. Two months,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever gone that long without eating.” 

“No one has,” said Tien. “But these bodies don’t exactly get hungry and though they tired it’s not to any effect.” 

“Sure, that’s true,” said Goku, a whine in his voice. “But that doesn’t mean we won’t be able to taste it any. And that’s all there is to it?” 

Tien couldn’t hold back his snort. “You actually taste?” he said. “With all that breathing in, I thought your tongue was dead.” 

Goku shrugged. “Chi-Chi got me into it,” he said. “Going out and eating at the fancy places. It’s nice, though it does nothing to fill me up.” 

Tien opened his mouth to speak when a sharp voice said, “Enough talking. Work. Any slower and I’m going to release the hounds.” 

With a sigh, Tien pushed all his focus into chasing after the monkey lumbering in front of them. 

888

“Wiping the slate clean?” said Baba. 

I nodded. We were in a large and ostentatious room that overlooked Witch city below us, a sprawling city that was a mixture of nature and cityscape. 

The woman, Master Roshi’s sister, hung in the air, a purple shroud surrounding her and holding her aloft, turned to look at me. 

“That’s impossible,” she said, an air of finality in her voice. 

“What? Why?” I said. 

“Because it would take too much time collecting energy and gearing it to that purpose,” she said. “I don’t know the grade of spells out there, but, in the least, three hundred years before the energy gathered is enough to break most of the spells in the world. Not to mention that that’s not taking into account the grade of spell the Great Dragon, Shenron, or the Genie, Mr Popo, might cast.” 

I let out a sigh. “No offense,” I said. “But witch’s spell are really stalling our progress. Bulma’s spending most of her time trying to wade past mental intrusion than actually working on whatever she’s working on. I just hoped there might be a simple solution to all of this.” 

Baba gave me a long look before she said, “There is.” I looked at her expectantly. “The dragon balls.” 

At that there was a flood of information, at her words avenues I’d never thought about opened. Why didn’t we just use the dragon balls to solve all of our problems, with the dragon balls it was possible that we could wish away the threat of the Saiyans, avoiding the need for—

I shook my head as I was hit by a wave of confusion. I was aware that I’d been thinking in a direction, but what that direction was, was hard to tell. 

Baba hummed. “It’s stronger than I thought, then,” she said. 

“What’s stronger,” I said before I paused. “I’m being affected by a spell, aren’t I?” 

Baba nodded. 

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “My idea was really good, too, wasn’t it?” 

“It would have made things easier, yes,” said Baba. 

“If you heard it, why don’t you push it into action?” I asked. 

“Because I don’t want to go against whatever defences might be in effect if I try to go against what the previous Kami wanted,” she said. “I’m sure he had his reasons, or at least his people had their reasons for the restrictions. I’m wary to go against them.” 

“Guess I have no choice but to accept that,” I muttered. “Could you at least help with Bulma and her people? Open up the road so that they can work faster?” 

“I’ll have one of my witches work with them,” she said. 

“Thank you, Great Witch,” I said. “Have you heard from Oolong? It’s been two months. He should have gathered the dragon balls by now.”

“Last I heard he was trying to steal one of them from a museum,” said Baba. “My brother tells me he was quite enjoying himself, saying he hasn’t stolen anything in quite a while. But that was a few weeks ago. People from the School of the Transforming Arts might be after him round about now.” 

“He’ll love that even more,” I said, grinning. “It’s good that he’s at least having fun in all of this.” 

Baba snorted. “As though you weren’t,” she said. “From what Master Roshi tells me, you seem to have found a rhythm with everything that’s been pushed into action.” 

I shrugged. “I haven’t really had time to think about it,” I said. “But something about training the younger generation brings me a measure of fulfilment. Though that’s quickly countered by the knowledge that we’re no doubt setting them up for their slaughter.” 

“You’re a morbid one, aren’t you,” Baba muttered. “It surprised me that you’re one of my brothers. It makes a little more sense that you’d be one of Shen’s.” 

“I’m gonna leave before you insult me anymore,” I muttered. “Thank you for the audience, Great Witch.” 

888

“Things didn’t go as planned,” said Chiaotzu. “Gero showed some of his work but not enough. All the jets are things I’ve seen, things he’s shown the military.” 

Piccolo was frowning, hands folded and looking out beyond the Lookout. “I didn’t expect they’d be so powerful,” he said. “Or that they would complement each other so effectively.” 

Chiaotzu shrugged. “It’s not a bother. A few rotations and you can attack them, again,” said Chiaotzu. “I want more than anything to read his mind, know for certain if he’ll pool his creations when we fight with the Saiyans, but leaving this place…” 

“I know,” said Piccolo. He took a breath. “Give me a location and I’ll move in the direction. I’ll read his mind. Maybe put your fears to rest.” 

Chiaotzu gave a nod and looked, using the power of Guardian to see all throughout the Earth until he found a location. He gave the location to Piccolo and the man flew off, disappearing into the world beneath. 

It would be a year before he could step off the Lookout, any sooner and the magic forming between him and Mr Popo was liable to break, undoing the magic that sealed tight the Earth from otherworldly dimensions, and threatening an invasion of a different sort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Training montages bore me and scientific innovations realistically take a long time even without magical manipulation stalling the process. I've chosen to skip past most of that, only show the direction that something will take, explain it if possible, and then move on. 
> 
> It might come across as a little bit rushed, but I have this penchant of getting bored and I want this story to reach its natural end before I reach that point. 
> 
> Hoping the chapter was enjoyed.


	5. Chapter 5

“This is too early, I feel,” I said. “We should maximise the amount of time they have training with King Kai. From what Kami told me, the guy is old enough that he’ll give us innumerable tricks to use against the Saiyans.” 

“All good and well,” said Oolong, he stood beside me in the form of a tall and muscular woman, his skin an uneven bronze with scarring visible through much of his body. He looked weather worn, but that was most probably an affectation. 

“But it took me three months to collect all the dragon balls,” he continued. “With how many spells are breaking, the spells keeping the dragon balls partially secret might be waning too and I might have competition next time. Beyond the obvious, which is, we don’t know when exactly, they’ll get here.” 

“Right,” I muttered. “Bulma’s was just an estimate. Get at it, then.” 

“Rise, Shenron!” Oolong intone and the balls at our feet glowed a bright golden colour before the light shot up into the sky, the world around us being plunged into darkness.

The golden light, the solitary source now, got thicker, winding through the sky and taking on a sinuous form that slowly gained more weight; a fraction of a second had passed and the light shifted into an immense dragon. The dragon letting off a low light, through which I could see its green scales; the things head plunged down and glared in our direction, red eyes bearing down on us. 

“Speak your wish,” Shenron ordered, his tone of irritation. 

“Of course, Great Dragon,” said Oolong. “I wish for Tien Shinhan, who is currently on the North Kai’s planet, to be returned to a living state.” 

“Your wish has been granted,” said Shenron. He condensed into golden light, surge down into the balls while the dragon balls surge upwards; light startled to bleed into the world again, then, the balls which were in the air, broke apart, scattering throughout the world.

“He was a little nippy,” I muttered. 

Oolong was frowning as he hummed. “And Tien should have appeared,” he said. “Or are the rules different because of what Chiaotzu did to their bodies?” 

I shrugged. “Might as well go to the Lookout and fill them in,” I said and sighed. “What are you going to do while the dragon balls are out of commission? Are you still being chased for the robbery?” 

Oolong spread the most excited grin. “Yeah. It’s the most amount of fun I’ve had since Bulma and the…” He shook his head. “I’d rather not think about it. But I’ll be disappearing for the next year, I’ve been talking with Puar and we’ll be working for an in with the King. She hates it, of course, but it’ll be fun.” 

I let out a low whistle. “Don’t you think you’re taking it a little too far?” I said. “If you get arrested—”

“Arrest for treason and then execution,” said Oolong. “But luckily for Puar and me, we have friends in high places. One of them is even a god. I’m sure it won’t come to our deaths.” 

“Even so, be careful,” I said. 

Oolong gave a short nod and then pulled out a capsule from his side. The model of jet that appeared was older and on the inexpensive side, but it was fast as it moved through the air. Oolong couldn’t look to be too rich, but Bulma must have made changes under the hood; I watched as the plane moved over the constant clouds which hung over Yunzabit Heights and heard the crack as the plane roared away.

Three months too early from the six month point we’d wished back Tien, but what Oolong said made sense. Even with the scanner it had taken too long to gather all of them and it might take long because of how quickly things were moving. This was playing things on the safe side, but it was best that all of us were here when the invasion arrived. 

With a last look around, and pushing past the urge to search this place for Piccolo’s hideout. But then, what would I do when I found him? He was still stronger than me when it came to energy reserves and he was resilient enough that he would win a game of stamina. I wouldn’t be able to win a fight between the both of us. 

I took a breath and then flew into the air, spearing further up and towards the Lookout. It didn’t take too long before I could see the building hanging in the air and I could see some of our student sparring; most of them were surrounded by telekinetic shrouds, reaching out and enhancing their grade of attacks. 

When I came closer I saw that Yamcha and Chiaotzu had four students around each of them, fighting and beating the poor kids hard. But they were pushing through, continually reworking strategy though it was to no avail. As I looked I couldn’t help but think of Bulma’s words about Piccolo’s plan, how the people of Earth might lose hope when they were continually being attacked. 

The same thing was playing out here. Some of the students looked hopeless, instead going through the motions in their tries to hit their Masters. This training would wear on them, more so after some had seen the full power that could come to bear in an experienced Martial Artist. They needed a win, even if it was small. 

Over the next few weeks, between my turns spent training the students and looking after Goku’s farm and giving Gohan so lessons into the use of his reserves, I thought the idea over. Of a way of showing them that they really were making progress even if it didn’t look like it from their perspective. 

It finally struck me. 

“I need you to point towards me something large,” I said to Chiaotzu. “Something that needs to be stopped. With the Sight, you must see a lot that you surely want to stop.” 

“You have no idea,” he muttered and he looked older in that moment. He and I hadn’t had the best of time since everything had begun, more especially since it outwardly looked like I was the only one who felt the deaths Piccolo had wrought. 

But now, looking at him, I could see that I had been trying to make myself feel better at his expense; overlooking the large fact that all of this was a necessary step in the Earth’s survival. 

“Why?” he asked me. “You’d be putting them in danger, and you would be making it possible for us to be found.” 

“Even with the risk it will be good for our students,” I said and then I told him about my thoughts on the psychology behind it all. I wasn’t a profession where that was concerned, but I could make inferences and this was one. 

Chiaotzu sighed. “It’s something,” he said. “That will be done and it might help those that have been feeling stir-crazy lately. Do you have any ideas on the logistics of it all?” 

I shook my head. “But we have about two weeks before we have to fight Piccolo again. I’ll have worked out the minutia by then.” 

It was really less than that by a day or so, but Chiaotzu nodded. “I’ll start jotting down places of interest,” he said. 

888

“What is the meaning of this?” said the man. He’d been woken from sleep by two men, grabbing him and then throwing him in a plane, now he was being pushed through what looked like an advanced lab. 

“All in due course,” said the man in front. He was tall and muscular, with white hair and a cap on, but the strangest thing about him was his manner of speech. 

They passed through a door an on the right was a room with a window revealing servers. It was a cursory glance, but the room looked almost infinite; row upon row of dark towers with blinking light. 

He knew, of course, that the room couldn’t be infinite, but it was imposing and interesting more than anything. Why this? Especially in one location? What was being done and who was doing it? 

They stepped through another door and turned into a room with a large device, a mess of wires all of them leading into the server room. In front of the device stood a familiar figure. 

“Gero? What—what is this?” 

“It’s progress, old friend,” the man said. “A large amount of progress, hopefully, in a short space of time.” 

Dr Frappe shook his head. “I’m not working with you again, Gero. Not after what we did with the Red Ribbon Army. I know what you did to our creation. Breaking him down and….” Frappe couldn’t continue. 

Dr Gero didn’t look the slightest bit perturbed. “I know, you know,” he said. “I’ve been keeping an eye on you, old friend. Seeing if you’ve been doing anything of worth since our days. But it seems you haven’t. How unfortunate that your mind will have dulled. But that will be fixed shortly.” 

“What does that even mean?” Dr Frappe asked and he couldn’t help himself because he was genuinely curious. 

“You remember what I was working on before our operations…ceased?” Dr Gero said. 

Dr Frappe nodded. “Uploading a human mind… If I remember correctly it was because your son—Surely you can’t mean that you’ve succeeded, that this…” 

Dr Gero nodded. “Alien technology. A device that can read human thoughts. All thoughts, quite honestly. The how is still hard, because the processing power that would be needed to achieve that feat…” Dr Gero stopped in a sigh. “I couldn’t recreate it, but I could turn the function towards something else. My original goal.” 

“But, where do I fit into all this?” asked Dr Frappe, though he knew with an absolute certainty why he was here.

Dr Gero smiled. “I want this for my son, for myself,” said Gero. “But before I can do it, I need to see if it can handle your genius, only then I’ll be sure that this truly works.” Dr Gero looked at him men. “Hook him up.” 

Dr Frappe tried to fight but he couldn’t achieve it, both men too strong. He accepted his fate, perhaps this would work and it would be another form of existence; the next form of existence.

888

“Please tell me it worked,” said Bulma. Her eyes were shut and her stomach doing flips in anticipation. 

There was a long silence before, “Yes, ma’am, it is. We’re getting power from the extradimensional source.” 

Bulma couldn’t help it, she let out a whoop, jumping in the air at her success. The box was beyond, in a deep room with a large box sitting in the middle, there were six large tubes connected to each side of the box, syphoning the power. 

The beacon had worked and with it she didn’t know the amount of energy they would have on their hands. 

The possibilities were running through her mind when the computer screens turned read, danger messages flagging and then the box promptly exploded. The room had been built with this in mind, the reality that the cube might overload, but she’d hoped that it wouldn’t. 

This meant there was still a lot of work to do. But right now, with probably a near infinite amount of clean energy that didn’t need the ship’s engine, she could begin working on Piccolo’s ship in earnest. 

888

“Welcome to Other World,” said a woman, she was much, much taller than me, her skin an odd shade of blue and looking more like she was made of stone than skin. “How might I help you today?” 

“Um…I’ve been sent by the God of Planet Earth,” I said. “I’m here to fetch a warrior that was on the North Kai’s planet. I have word that he’ll be arriving soon.” 

“The entrance to Snake Way is just over there,” said the woman, directing me to a gigantic door that led off to a visage that was filled with a myriad of golden clouds. “It would be best if you didn’t cause too much trouble. Some of the inhabitants are powerful enough to cause trouble.” 

I looked in the direction of a long line of beings, some of them from Earth. Most were just walking forward, one step at a time, while others were bound in heavy, black chains that seemed to suck in all the light. Those beings looked in a tremendous amount of pain. 

I hopped onto the Carpet and willed it to surge forward, moving past the Other Worlders scattered throughout the massive room, all of them moving with purpose, and moved through the exit. I flew higher up and saw the marvel that was Snake Way, a long winding road that was made of a dull golden metal. 

Out of curiosity I flew forward, through the gaping mouth. At once something activated and the Carpet fell, no longer able to fly; I walked off and pulled the Carpet out of Snake Way, watching as it immediately rose from the ground again. 

There was magic on the thing that meant flight was impossible, but the Carpet had another function: A limited amount of instantaneous teleportations under its belts. I took in a breath and then let it out, imagining the abstract concept that was King Kai’s planet. It had been the same thing I’d done while coming here.

The Carpet lurched forward and the scenery around me changed, all at once I was standing in a planet that was too small and an immense amount of weight bearing down on his shoulder. It was automatic at this point, having spent time in the Time Chamber, that I pulled in energy and fortified my body. 

Goku was the first person that I felt and I willed the Carpet in the direction. It wasn’t too long flying on the planet and then I saw him, standing in place with his eyes closed in a meditative trance, arms at his side and red fire erupting from his body at times. 

When I was close enough he turned and looked in my direction, his expression turning to surprise as he really saw me. 

“Krillin?” he said. I moved closer. “What are you doing here? You’re not dead, right?” 

“No, I’m not,” I said. “Just, was testing out something. The Carpet can teleport, I was seeing if it could make the trip across Snake Way.” 

“When was that?” he said. 

“A moment ago,” I said. “I’m not carrying a watch. But I’m sure it was instantaneous.” 

Goku let out a low whistle. “Wish we had that when we died,” he said. “Took us two months to make a trip here. But then King Kai says that that was part and parcel of the training. This place, being dead, means that we’re continually replenishing energy; so forcing us to expend energy quickly grows our reserves at a faster rate.” 

Goku whistled again. “Not that you’d need it. I’d thought, for a moment, that you were something else. Your reserves.” 

“Time spent in Time Chamber,” I said. “I didn’t think I’d be able to power up this quickly, but…” I shrugged. “I was working towards something. I thought Piccolo had kidnapped Gohan. I was working towards getting powerful enough that I could get him back.” 

“Chiaotzu’s really taken to being Guardian well,” Goku muttered. He sighed. “You’re not still angry at him, are you?” 

I shrugged. “I can’t help that I am,” I muttered. “A year spent with one obsession. Then, it turns out, it’s all a lie.” I let out a long sigh. “Then a lot of things happened and they’re not good. Chiaotzu’s been letting a lot of bad happen.” 

“Chiaotzu’s Kami,” said Goku. “I don’t think you know how much pressure he’s under.” 

“I don’t,” I admitted, “and I’ve tried to wrestle with convincing myself that he is under a lot of pressure. But…even when I do, it’s weighed down by the fact that there are a lot of people dead and he’s not doing anything to stop it. When I’m sure he could.” 

Goku was frowning at this and I went through it all, what had been happening on Earth for the last four or so months. The lines around his face got more in-set as the story went on. He let out a long sigh. 

“This is part and parcel of the reason that I didn’t want to become Guardian,” said Goku. “It forces you to look at the big picture more than the small, forces you to consider the lives of billions and thus miss the lives of that one person that’s suffering. And I can’t exactly blame him because it was the same sort of mindset that Kami, the previous one, taught me while I was training with him.” 

“But Chiaotzu wasn’t trained by Kami,” I said. 

“No, but Master Shen is a cold teacher,” he said, “and that’s close enough to the mindset that Kami needed. I’m not saying it’s exactly right, one person shouldn’t suffer because they were a needed step, but I can’t say it’s entirely wrong too when I consider the alternative.” 

Goku sighed. “I think that that’s what you’ve been dealing with more than anything. Trying to reconcile how the world is, the tough decisions that need to be made, with how you want it to be.” 

“I’ve chosen a victim for all this and it’s Chiaotzu,” I said. “I know this.” 

“But have you accepted it?” Goku asked and he shook his head. “I don’t think you have. I don’t really think you can unless you accept that what Chiaotzu is doing, is good even if it doesn’t feel like it in the small scale.” 

“I missed you, Goku,” I said with a sigh. 

Goku grinned. “I’ve been missing all of you,” he said. I heard a low howl, a growl that seemed to move through me and when I looked to my right I could see dog-creatures made of muscle spearing towards us too fast. 

“You’d better go,” said Goku. “Those things are used to dealing with the dead. They might…make you dead if they get their teeth on you.” I got onto the Carpet. “Keep taking care of Gohan for me.” 

I nodded and then there was the lurch and the shifting of the scenery around us, then I was back at the mouth of Snake Way. I had to wait a few hours before Tien arrived and we teleport back to Earth. 

888

“I don’t like this,” said the man, wearing the uniform of this sector’s police department. “But these guys have managed to evade us for the last half year, not to mention the Ox King’s put a lot of pressure our way to get things done.” 

“We’ll be discreet,” said Brea, towering over the man. She had her team spread out behind her, five in total. They were the most far ahead of the group, the ones most trusted by Master Krillin not to royally screw up the endeavour. “We’ll need your files on the group so we can start to work.” 

The man nodded and then gestured. “Follow me,” he said. “We have a room set up for you to operate in.” 

Brea followed, scanning the room as she walked. The place was relatively small, but that was more because she was big than anything, which meant she would have a hard time fighting anyone if a scuffle broke out. Fighting would be harder for her. 

But it wouldn’t be for her compatriots. 

They entered the room and it was filled with boxes, three sets of computers and a desk in the middle. They room looked much like an interrogation room, even with one large window to the side, though she wasn’t sure if they were being watched from the other side. 

“I’ll leave you to it, then,” said the man and then he left, closing the door behind him. 

Brea concentrated and a shroud appear, hers was a very dark blue, almost hard to see through. She spread it out over into a thin pane and then pushed towards the window, making it stick and barring the sight from beyond. 

Doll acted, energy spilling as she reached into her well and then splitting to form several other wells, all of them with the same energy reserves, three of them were slowly shrinking, not regenerating. She was a tall woman, her face long and with a mischievous glint in her eyes; she had a long thin tail she mostly held up, and her fur was white with black spots.

“Do we really need to do this?” she asked as she moved to the boxes, starting to go through the files. “Kami could just look in the direction they’re in.” 

“Weren’t you listening to the briefing?” said Hisomo, his expression stoic and cold eyes directed at Doll with slight annoyance. “They’re cloaked by a witch. We have to do this the old-fashioned way.” 

He was the oldest amongst them, a man in his mid-thirties who had trained in Martial Arts for a majority of his life. The story was that he hadn’t been able to refuse when he’d learnt that there were techniques beyond his ken. It showed in the way he treated them all, that and there was probably friction between him and Doll. 

Both were from the Den, and wars between their people meant that they’re working together was strained. 

Brea could understand it. Her cousin, who’d been born white, had often faced prejudice because of the colour of her fur. Their differences were so pronounced that it would easier for them to hate each other. It was necessarily right, but she could understand it.

“Right, right,” said Doll. “Forgot. Let’s quickly get to the brunt of this so we can move on. I miss the city.” 

“I have the opposite idea,” said Ash. He was shorter, his skin tanned and with no hair. “How about we taking it slower. If we’re doing this when the Demon attacks, then we don’t have to be there.” 

“Coward,” Hisomo.

“Rather a living coward than a dead brave man,” Ash muttered back. He grabbed a box and started rifling through its content. “Can we even fight magic?” 

“Magic is a branch of the Ki Arts,” said Ben, the man sounding tired. He was thin and pale, his hair dark. The man had bags under his eyes. 

“That doesn’t answer my question,” said Ash. “Sure they’re made of the same thing but…Ice and water are the same thing, yet one is stronger than the other.” 

“If we keep our wits about us we’ll be fine,” said Brea. “Master Krillin trusted us with this task. Let’s not disappoint him.” 

It was a measure of the Masters that even if they weren’t here they had so much pull. But then, all of them had seen as they fought the Demon King, knew the strength they had even if they didn’t seem that way most of the time. 

They started and the days started to pass with the barest of information. But that was on paper, Lapis and Ash were the best of their telepaths and they began scouring through all the museums that had been robbed in the Ox territories; there were seven in total, but the artefacts that were stolen were rumoured to contain old magics and that made them invaluable. 

“Noticed some obvious holes in memories,” said Ash. “And that didn’t mean much until I found them again on a security guard. He wasn’t working for the museum, but some corner store that these guys used as an exit point. And there I found the footage. I’ve found their images.” 

“That’s a first step,” said Brea. “We have the Ox King’s backing which means we have the entire database of this territory. But I can’t help but think they might have someone on the inside. They might know about us, but the fact that we’re an unknown element works in our favour.” 

“If we need to work quietly then I know a guy that works as a hacker for hire,” said Ash. “He could do this cleanly.” 

“The problem becomes financing, then,” said Lapis. “I don’t think the Masters are rich.” 

“With their connections, why wouldn’t they be?” asked Doll. “Lord of the Ox territories, Lord of the Turtle Isles, the Grand Witch Baba and Capsule Corp too? Why don’t we ask and see? Maybe they do and if they don’t, we can get creative.” 

“It’s amusing that you missed Kami in that list,” Hisomo said. 

“I’ll ask,” said Bree. She did and she was surprise to find a large fund opened to them the next day.

The hacker didn’t work in person, but Ash trusted him and that was a measure to his credit. Even so it spent a few days before they had a names to the faces and locations. It had cost extra, with the hacker claiming to have found a way into Capsule Corp’s systems to get them the information. 

“That seems entirely unlikely,” said Ash. “That that would happen in such a short period of time.” 

“They could work in Capsule Corp,” said Doll. 

“Or that people in Capsule Corp are helping us along,” said Lapis. “This is an experiment. The whole security company thing, and it’s illegal in a lot of places which is why they’re using their connections. Capsule Corp might have faith in all of this and want a piece of it before it sets off.” 

“Never minding the obvious connection,” said Brea. 

“And it’s clever in a way,” said Ash. “If that’s true and maybe they used Capsule Corp to get their money, then they didn’t lose anything, and this can’t be connected back to them.” 

Brea shook her head. “We’re speculating too much when we have a way forward. We have the location of one that’s close, let’s use that to propel us forward. It should be easier with access to their minds.” 

There were nods and then there was movement. 

The house was rather small, but there seemed to be too many energy signatures in the place relative to its size. Their intel was that the place had an underground network, which was likely how they were moving their product. But from the density of the people around it was likely that there was more going on.

“I’ve got caches,” said Lapis and Brea pushed herself into the Astral Plane. There, in the overlapping space, not yet in her defences where a stream of people and the information Lapis had collected from the cursory read. 

“There were people with defences,” said Lapis. “I didn’t stray too close less I get figured out. I didn’t know how much they knew about telepathy.” 

“That was good,” said Brea. “Ben?” 

The man, in his early twenties and wearing a pensive expression, gave a nod before his face scrunched in concentration. There was a spike, energy suddenly being pulled in, and then he started changing, his expression warping until he became fuzzy. He shrunk, continued to shrink and the hairs became harder as they shrunk. Then he was beyond sight until he was flying right in front of her, his form that of a fly. 

 

Ben then flew off. 

“I wish a better telepath would have gone,” Hisomo said after an hour had passed. 

“Too bad not all of us went to the School of the Transforming Arts,” Doll muttered. She reclined a little, filing her claws. 

Three hours passed and Brea was starting to panic, pacing in the small patch of land they’d camped in. The others, though some tried to hide it, looked equally shaken. Then, all at once, there was a flicker, energy flaring and all of them were moving. 

Brea pulling in energy from her well and quickly turning it into kinetic energy. She surged forward and up, her hide bearing the impacts as branch broke off. She ignored them, moving further into the sky and then choosing the direction lead by Ash and Lapis. 

“Found him,” said Ash and the image was in her mind. Brea was the first to act, her hands tearing forward and pointing in the shape of a triangle; there was a crackle and then shaft of white light as she said, Tri-beam Cannon. 

Other shafts of light tore through the air and into the ground, now earth ploughing upwards because they were scouring the ground. Ben hadn’t died yet, but he was expending energy and he was doing it fast. 

The five of them dropped and it was immediately chaos, the sound of gun fire in a long hallway with Ben standing in the middle, a light blue sphere keeping the bullets at bay. It would disappear at times, but there would be another beneath, moving steadily closer to Ben’s person. 

“Behind you!” shouted a person and a few men turned, automatic rifles that were about to start firing. 

Hisomo was the fastest, disappearing and appearing in front of one man. He grabbed and arm, pushing the rifle to point upwards while flinging a hand; a pink membrane shot off, pushing the three men to the side before they could fire. 

There was shouting amongst it all, call to pull back from the other side but Brea and her team were moving too fast for the guards to react. In less than a minute they had every armed personnel in a state where they wouldn’t pose trouble. 

“What happened?” said Brea. “And quickly.” 

“I was spotted by someone,” said Ben, his voice panicked. “A man with purple skin. They had a ship, like the one the aliens arrived in but older. I thought it might be useful and moved within telepathic range but—”

“Got their direction,” said Lapis, interrupting. 

“Then lead,” said Brea. They flew through the halls, disabling any resistance that sought to bar their way and finding it surprisingly easy. Five minutes in total and then they entered a large room with a range of airships, most of them taking off. 

Lapis reacted, pointing a hand and firing at a black jet that looked too similar to the jets they’d seen flying in the Kaprun City. They jet lurched right, but the place was too small, and it too big; the energy ball hit and detonated, enough that the jet was sent spinning. 

The hatch opened before the jet could hit the ground and out jumped a short man, his skin purple and wearing the widest of hats; in his hands he carried the large pod-like ship, the thing’s weight not bothering him and no influx as he pulled in energy. 

“Be on alert,” said Brea to the others. He knew that this would be a fight. “We might not be able to handle this. Ben, fly out of range and spike. We might need the Masters.” 

Ben nodded and then flew in the direction they’d come. 

Purple reacted at once, one hand moving away from carrying the pod and pointing towards the entryway; a flash of blue light erupted from his hand but Brea had already reacted, jumping up and pushing energy into her claws; she clenched them together and then beat the thing down. 

Below her the others had moved too; Lapis sending out green tentacles of psionic energy towards Purple while Ash fired a salvo of green energy balls. The man surged back and then stopped, shifting his weight to the side as Hisomo suddenly appeared in front of him, hand surrounded in a telekinetic shroud and swiping. 

Purple had been caught by surprise by the motion, but he’d still reacted fast enough that he’d dodge the swipe. Purple kicked out but his legs were too short; Hisomo dodged and opened up a path for Lapis’ tentacles to grab hold of the man, pulling him to the ground. 

Brea moved forward as the man lost hold of the pod and grabbed it off of the air before it could hit the ground. With the thing in her arms, energy devoted to bearing the weight, she could do nothing but watch as her team fought. 

Purple had regained his bearings and was dodging as tentacles tried to hit; Doll had split off four clones and they were doing a good job at finding openings to send energy blasts; Hisomo was just standing to the side and waiting; and Ash had his eyes closed. 

“He’s not there,” Ash finally shouted. “Whatever it is, it’s not human!” 

At those words something changed in the way Purple fought. He seemed faster, better able to dodge the tentacles and no longer being hit by the energy blasts; he turned in the air as a blast was sent out of his way and something popped out of his shoulder. There was a small bang and then a massive flash of light, through it all a grunt reverberated. 

The Solar Flare is our most powerful of attacks. The most useful because, no matter how strong an opponent, if it catches you off guard, it will make it hard to fight. That’s why your first lesson is to defend against it. 

The sound of movement in the air and Brea reacted; she took in a breath while pulling in energy from her well, she pushed the energy through her body into her throat and then conceptualised the energy transforming: It was no longer potential energy, but vibrations passing through the air, hurting forward. 

With a breath out, she roared. 

The purple man surged to the side, his arm ripped off and chunks of his face missing. He’d sustained damage but he was still alive, still angling towards Brea who hung in the sky. 

The message filled her mind and Brea reacted, focusing her mind into defence and creating a membrane around her person and the pod above her. It wouldn’t last too long, but her team members were already healing from the blast.

There was a flicker, a large energy well getting into her range; another sound, of air moving, of grunting and of shouts. Then there was nothing until her senses could come back. 

When they returned she saw that Lapis had been taken. 

She couldn’t help but feel the deepest of angers and the worst of guilt, especially as she thought of what Lazuli’s reaction would be. 

888

“Fifteen,” said Dr Gero. “You’re damaged.” 

“There was an altercation,” Fifteen said. “I was attacked by one of the warriors who helped defend the City of Kaprun. They weren’t too far along their training, from what I could see, but they were proficient enough to cause trouble. They took the ship.” 

Dr Gero let out a sigh. “That’s regrettable,” he said. “But you brought something else.”

“One of their fighters, yes,” said Fifteen. “I thought it prudent that we get as much information to what they are, what they’re trying to achieve so they don’t go against your plans.” 

“That was good,” said Dr Gero. “You weren’t followed though? If they were the ones in Kaprun, then they’ll be students of Son Goku’s compatriots. They’ll be looking.” 

“I managed to salvage the artefact,” said Fifteen. He reached at his side and pulled out a small block of wood, words written on the thing. “We should be cloaked.” 

Dr Gero continued nodding. “Things worked out with Dr Frappe,” he said. “I don’t think there’s been damage to his brain, he’s in his full capacities. We’ll have to prepare the base in the Turtle Isles before…” Dr Gero stopped, his expression twisting. “Before the next phase of our plan.” 

“Of course, Doctor,” said Fifteen. “The captured fighter?” 

“Get as much from him as you can,” said Dr Gero. “I’ll leave the how to you.” 

With a nod, Fifteen left, already through the process of pulling interrogation and torture techniques from the web. 

888

AN: Doll is a dog-person and Brea is a bear-person. That wasn’t specifically noted in the story because it’s not novel within the world, that and racial issues: White people nowadays, when describing someone black, will sometimes leave out the fact they’re black even if it would be expedient description wise. I wanted that same sort of feeling.


	6. Chapter 6

“We didn’t manage to get any of them,” said Brea and there was a slight panicked edged to her voice. Like most people, she stood taller than me, with a large frame, her fur sticking on end and an almost reddish brown colour. “But we were distracted by the robot. It—”

“It’s fine,” I interrupted, though it really wasn’t. My stomach was twisting and a pit of anxiety running through because it was slowly hitting me that this was my fault. 

I’d thought the plan was genius, raising moral for our students, but on their first mission one of them had been taken. I also hated the large part of me that was more worried about the fact that Lapis had a sibling than anything else, that I would have to tell that sibling that her brother was gone and right now we didn’t have a lead. 

I took a long breath in and then let it out slowly, letting my mind run out the possibilities, how I might be able to move forward but it didn’t happen quickly. Around us was motion from others, they would be searching out the base for anything valuable; if we were lucky, then the items we were supposed to find for the Ox King would, indeed, be in their current stock. 

“The ship,” I said. “Where is it?” 

“We moved it out of the exit-dock,” said Brea. “We were afraid that while Master Yamcha was out chasing the robot, more of the traders might come back and we’d have to fight. I wanted all of us to be able to fight this time, unlike the last.” 

We’d need to move it to Capsule Corp without being sighted. It wouldn’t do to have Bulma’s corporation tainted by illegal actions, not that it would be good for this…idea. We needed to move beyond the clientele that we were connected to, which meant that we had to be by the books. 

“Smart,” I said to Brea who was standing over me. “You can rest. I know you must have been busy the last few weeks, and this must have been trying.” 

Brea looked as though she wanted to say something before she nodded and moved off. I stood in the middle of it all, watching as my students milled, most of them carrying large boxes filled with things, the words ‘checked’ written across them. 

It wasn’t a moment later that Tien appeared on the Flying Carpet, he had a grim expression on him and he shook his head as he looked at me. 

“I couldn’t sense the thing,” said Tien. “I split off into as many clones as I could but I couldn’t even sense Lapis. I think it might be the same artefact that’s keeping it out of Chiaotzu’s sight and my sense.” 

“We’ll have to look through other means,” I said. “Magic and science. The crew we sent here did a good job of finding this place, we’ll ask them what they did and keep working.” 

Tien nodded, looking at me for a long while before he said, “This isn’t your fault. You couldn’t have seen—”

I stopped him with a gesture. “I know,” I said. “I just need to find out who did. Has anyone told Lapis yet?” 

Tien nodded. “Yamcha. She’s…pissed. She wants to head the mission to find her brother.” 

I shook my head. “It wouldn’t do,” I said. “She’s be too unfocused, fuelled by too much emotion and liable to overreact.” 

“She isn’t just going to accept that,” said Tien. 

“I know. But maybe time can help ease the feelings,” I said, turning to look at Tien. “You’ve still got three tries in the Time Chamber. You can take a set of our students in there and train them. I’m hoping that we’ll survive the following struggle and, against Frieza, we’ll use the room again when it’s most likely needed.” 

“I get it,” said Tien and he nodded. “I’ll set things up.” 

888

The scream reverberated through the Astral Plane and Piccolo felt it. At once he moved in a guessed direction, tearing through the skies and then dipping down towards the mountains. Even this close he couldn’t feel anything, which meant they were either deeply in the mountain or there was magic involved. 

Piccolo took a breath and pushed himself into the Astral Plane; he saw the threads of pain being thrown in every direction but he couldn’t follow it: The dimensions in the Astral Plane didn’t necessarily translate into the physical world. He wouldn’t be able to get anything until he overlapped with the sender. 

But at least he could guess where the pain was coming from. Piccolo pulled in energy and pushed it over his hands; in practised motions he held both hands over his head and paused, condensing the energy and letting it stay. 

It was an oft forgotten aspect of the Ki Arts that the amount of time afforded to an act, meant something; the very reason Piccolo afforded a set amount of time into his Special Beam Cannon. He hadn’t pushed time into the Masenko for the longest time, but this was well worth it. 

He’d come into the area searching for Dr Gero’s mind for Chiaotzu and he’d yet to find it. Was he the cause of all this? And was the pain part of what the Doctor was working on? Would it help? 

Piccolo stopped as he felt his hands starting to crackle, buzzing audible. But it wasn’t enough. He devoted more time into the technique, pushing past the discomfort of the crackles of energy running up and down his arm, instead going for maximum effect. 

The discomfort got too great and Piccolo thrust both hands forward; the giant ball of orange energy hurtled towards the ground, into a ridge between to mountains and it detonated. The explosion was loud in both sound and colour, sending out pieces of rubble flying in every direction though Piccolo kept himself shielded with a telekinetic membrane. 

He couldn’t feel anything, which meant the magical artefact was still in play, but the telepathic screaming had stopped as well. Piccolo waited until something hit, an image of a short purple robot with parts of its face missing moving out of a room. 

He raised his hand over his head again, and focused energy and time into the attack. 

“Masenko-ha!” he said and he thrust the ball into another ridge. The explosion detonated again and Piccolo moved his hands in position, preparation for another attack. There was no message so he thrust forward and detonated. 

A message hit: A room shaking. 

Piccolo changed tack, two fingers meeting his forehead and energy moving; there were two points, energy moving through his body up his arm and another from his head into the hand. The crackling started far sooner than the Masenko though it was the same amount of energy in both attacks. 

This attack condensed energy further. 

He didn’t push too much time into this attack and then he pointed; a drill made of purple light tore through the air and cleaved through a piece of mountain. He moved again, getting into motion and preparing another Special Beam Cannon; when it was done Piccolo chose another spot in the region of his attack and sent another. 

Six times he did this before he got an image in his head: Another man returning, tall and wide, his skin pale; the man moved forward and grabbed the sender, pulling off restraints that were unneeded because the sender’s arms and legs had been broken. 

Not that it would have meant much to a Ki Practitioner, especially one that was well trained. But the sender didn’t seem too well versed, probably one of the others’ fighters. 

“Masenko-ha!” Piccolo said and he thrust energy towards a sect of mountains. He didn’t get any messages from the Astral Plane which meant he moved his target again and again but still no answer. 

They were most likely gone now. But if they were one of Chiaotzu’s, he needed to know. 

He pointed in a direction and started flying. 

888

“My King,” he said as he entered the throne room, taking a knee a distance from the King, with a fist clenched over his heart and his head down. 

“Speak, Nappa,” said the King. 

Nappa looked up and his eyes met King Vegeta who was not sitting in his throne, instead the man hanging in the air and looking out of the large windows behind him. A golden city sprawled outwards, a myriad of shapes all of them reaching for the skies; there were some with bridges that connected some of the buildings.

The air was a mess with ships moving in orderly lines, stopping and starting, some of them reaching points where they flew vertically downwards before entering another lane and moving horizontal. 

There was a beauty in the mess, in the cacophony of sounds from the window, the lights that shone from the buildings when the planet’s sun dipped over the horizon and night fell. One, Nappa knew, the King loved watching. 

“We got an info dump from Raditz,” he started. “He found Kakkarot on the planet. It wasn’t destroyed, just like Turles said.” 

“Which means we can trust him,” said the King. “Or, at least, we can trust that he likes being alive.” King Vegeta turned, looking down at Nappa. “How was he defeated? Are they strong?” 

“Tricks and deception,” said Nappa. “They told Raditz of mystical objects which can grant any wish. Raditz was interested even though he knew it was likely a trap, but he was overconfident, let his guard down. 

“Most likely through telepathy, the three fighters communicated. They showed off a technique that blinded Raditz and then they attack, techniques that bore through Raditz’s defences. He was under waters when he sent the message.” 

“Mystic objects to grant wishes,” said King Vegeta. He landed. “It sounds preposterous.” 

Nappa nodded. “Though it might be true,” said Nappa. “They can’t have known that we were coming, their technological level hasn’t reached the point where they can even travel into space yet which means they might not be able to monitor something as fast as our ships. 

“I doubt they would have been able to plan so effectively and even have props. There’s also the matter that both Kakkarot and his human compatriot, Krillin, were reluctant to share the information about what they called: Dragon balls.” 

King Vegeta let out a long sigh. “Kakkarot is a Saiyan,” he said. “But, from the looks of it, he’s gone native. We could force him to come to this facsimile of our home, but I doubt he would fight with us.” 

“He could be useful for the breeding program,” said Nappa. “We’re already strapped with the little amount of bio-data that we have. Not to mention if the dragon balls actually do what they’re supposed to do.” 

“You think we should go to this planet?” he said. “Even with the risk that Frieza might already have forced headed in the direction?” 

Nappa nodded. “The prize is too great for us not to check it out,” he said. “Imagine the infinite possibilities that having a wish gives us: A power boost that would mean your reserves are larger than Frieza’s; immortality so that you might defeat him through brute repetition; wishing for our people back from death; or just wishing Frieza away.” 

“I know, Nappa,” said the King. “I’ve considered it. I am considering it. But I have to weigh the risks of it all. I already have an empire, conquered, but that’s the way of our people. Risking all of that for something that might be a bluff…?”

He shook his head, watching the city. 

“I have my doubts about this,” he said. 

“Then you don’t need to go,” said Nappa, not hiding the eagerness in his voice. “I could go in your place, taking a small force that wouldn’t be traced by Frieza. We can go see if this is true while you keep looking for Paragus and his son.” 

“No,” said the King. “That’s your duty and you’ve been doing a good enough job at it.” He frowned as he said, “Take your small force, take the Resurgence as well. Take care of this as quickly as possible and then come back. If the dragon balls turn out to indeed be a bluff, take Kakkarot and his friends, we’ll use them as ransom for his loyalty.” 

“Yes, my King,” said Nappa and with a grin, he left to gather his troops.

888

“My Lord,” said Ginyu. 

“You have something?” Lord Frieza said, looking at Ginyu impassively. 

“We’re moving,” he said in answering. “Nappa’s taking a troop of a thousand to Earth. I’m not sure yet why, but the situation will reveal itself as time goes on.” 

“Keep me informed as you’re able,” said Lord Frieza and the image cut off.

888

“It’s Doctor Gero and we can’t do anything about it,” I muttered, my well opening without me being able to help it and arcs of electricity running over skin. 

We were in one of the many rooms in the Lookout, though this one was special in the fact that it was an alternate entrance to the Lookout. I stood with Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu with me, while Piccolo stood opposite all of us.

“You could just attack him,” said Piccolo. 

“It doesn’t work like that,” said Chiaotzu sounding calm and patient. “Gero’s company helps a lot of people through their medical technology, not to mention he’s a major contractor for the military. I’d stake my title that they’d protect him even if they found out about this.” 

“If they believe us,” said Yamcha. “We don’t have too good a relationship with them since Goku died and Master Roshi’s been strong-arming them to get Raditz back to us. But we can’t just let him get away with this.”

“Do you have an idea how we might take him down?” I asked. 

“Puar,” said Yamcha. “The Doctor’s probably changing bases since Piccolo was so close to his last. From that we know that he works in these bases for whatever purposes. We just have to capture him and then have Puar pose as him.” 

“That’ll be a little hard,” said Tien. “Dr Gero knows a lot.” 

“You’ll have to teach her telepathy. When we capture Gero, we’ll cache all he knows and then she’ll subsume it. A year inside the Chamber with her only having to learn telepathy and she might be strong enough that she won’t be taken over by separate personality.” 

“But Oolong and Puar are infiltrating the Palace,” I said. “We’ll need someone else. Someone closer. Ben was a student in transformation techniques.” 

“But that requires us to tell him what’s been going on,” said Chiaotzu. “There’s the chance that it might not work, that he might not like this knowledge.” 

“We’re limited on options,” I said. “We’ll have to tell Lazuli; hiding this from her will turn things bad in the long term. It’s better that she knows we respect and trust her enough even with this. It’s better if we spread the knowledge to the entirety of Brea’s group to so that, if we die, they know how to move forward. They have it in them to lead.” 

“Good enough idea,” said Tien. “I’ll gather them. We need to move as quickly as possible. You’ll use the day to?” 

“Talk to Bulma,” said Yamcha. “Deliver the ship too. She might have a way forward. She’s might be able to use her satellites to find Gero.” 

“I’ll head looking for the base,” I said. “Checking it for anything that might lead us to Gero.” 

“Be careful for traps,” said Chiaotzu. “We don’t need a death.” 

With shared nods we parted. 

I took a team of six with me to the mountains of the Northern Region and started searching. We spent three hours before one of my students had the idea that things might move faster if we had equipment to measure the density of the earth while causing detonations above ground; that would give us a shorter search time. 

I flew over to the North Capital and called Bulma to hook us up with the necessary equipment. It didn’t take too long before I was over the mountains, setting off explosions at times until an ear in my voice told me they’d found a hollow ground. 

It was disappointing to find that it was just a cave, but that quickly changed because when venting my frustration and punching a wall, the texture had been wrong. 

“Tri-Beam,” I said pointing at the section of wall and moving out of the way. 

Two of my students reacted, hands shaped in a triangle and pointed in the direction; there was a white crackle before, with a shout, a beam of light flew forward and tore into the section at two points. The cave wall hadn’t been destroyed but it was bent. 

“Again,” I said and the order was followed. 

It didn’t take long before the wall finally fell and beyond there was a revealed a long corridor bathed in dim light. 

“Wait here,” I said. “There could be traps and I don’t trust you’re fast enough to be able to handle them.” 

There were nods, though I could see a few hurt expressions at the comment. I didn’t pay them any mind, instead focusing on pulling in energy and fortifying my body. 

I rushed forward into the hallway and immediately there was a reaction, panels popping off and small guns appearing and pointing; I was at one side of the room by the time they started firing, energy flooding into my hand and being pushed forward. I got the first gun without trouble, pushing out of the way and then shooting the second. 

More slots opened and there were more guns. I threw up a telekinetic shield but it didn’t do too well in withstanding the stream; I dodged to the side and the flew up and down all while gathering energy. A quick salvo and the guns were disabled. 

I moved forward to the end of the hall, my entrance barred by a thick set of metal doors. The moment I stopped a door fell from behind me, too fast and not entirely expected, and I was closed off; a hiss sounded, the room being filled by an invisible gas. 

With a last breath, pushing past the momentary dizziness, I step foot on the ground and moved to the appropriate stance. 

Kame—I thought and I felt as my energy started moving, it coming from my core and the slowly moving to my hands. A shriek filled the air, sharp and beckoning my attention. I’d grown so accustomed to the technique that it was easy to filter it out. 

I made sure to keep my mind at peace, taking my time.

Hame—

The shriek got fiercer as the ball materialised, beams of light shooting out from the spaces between my hands. It was bright enough that it flooded out the artificial lights from the roof. 

My heart wanted to beat faster, to get lost in the thrill of power, but I held it back, letting my mind imagine tranquil oceans as I kept energy moving through my body. 

Ha!

And I thrust forward: The ball of blue light, twice my size shot forward and hit the metal doors. The metal strained and buckled, bending against the force of the wave. It was few second and then the doors folded, passing into another long hallway, running down its length and then slamming into another set of metal doors. 

The beam continued down a series of halls before it met a section that might have been rock. I detonated the attack, which was now small enough that it didn’t cause too much damage to the surrounding area. 

It was unlikely that Lapis was still here, but playing it safe didn’t hurt anyone. I moved forward and out of the area filled with the gas, moving far enough that I could take a breath. 

I looked back at the door that was bearing my path from behind and moved again into the appropriate stance. I made sure to pull in too much energy, spiking so that those on the other side of the door would know to get away from the door. It was faster this time, not too much time spent into the Kamehameha before letting it loose. 

This door was easier to break and as a group we started to search through the facility. From the looks of it, Piccolo had caught them unaware enough that they hadn’t been able to clean up before they left. The deepest rooms had all sorts of machinery, a server room, a massive refrigerator, a few rooms with and living rooms, and a few rooms filled with computers though they were destroyed. 

“Those are a lot of servers,” muttered one of Bulma’s people, letting out a whistle. 

“Could you get us inside?” said another. “They might be better than ours. By the looks of this place the guy here is a genius and the stuff he’d be able to cook up if he wasn’t held back by ethical constraints…” 

“Careful, there,” said the first. “That’s the sort of thinking that starts one on their descent into darkness.” 

The other shrugged. “Still worth a see,” he said. “So can you?” 

I shook my head. “There’s too much risk of us breaking something if we do,” I said. “But, Bolo,” I said to a man with blue hair. “Head to the Lookout and ask Chiaotzu for the Carpet.” 

“Yes, Master,” said the man and then he left in a run. 

“Is it safe that he be out there alone?” asked Misoko. “With what happened to Lapis?”

“He’ll spike if he’s in danger,” I said, though my stomach tossed a little at the thought of losing another student. I pushed it all down. “We should get more people to run through this place, shouldn’t we?” I asked the scientist.

“I’ll make the call,” said the leader of the group. 

It took about an hour before everyone was back, and in the time those of us who still remained searched the rest of the base to ensure we hadn’t missed anything. We hadn’t, indeed there was nothing odd in the place, except all the humanoid robot parts in other rooms. 

“I’m totally nabbing one of these,” some of the scientists muttered. “Processor like I’ve never seen.” She looked in my direction. “We can take this, right? We might be able to look through the specs, check patents and see how owned this place.” 

I nodded while wearing a bored expression as I watched. 

There wasn’t anything new I could learn from this place except if it held the direction for the new location of Gero’s base. But I couldn’t exactly just say that because we didn’t have a direction to move yet. 

A short man appeared with Bolo on the Flying Carpet and he had a harried expression as he looked at me. 

“So,” he said, and his voice was shaky. “It seems like the servers are housing a general AI.” 

“And that’s bad?” I asked. 

“Well…it’s complicated,” the man said. “It could be good, it could be bad. It’s hard to know because I didn’t build it or help in building it. I don’t know how it’s constrained. If it got out, it might mean the singularity or the death for all humanity. Those are extremes, sure, but…” He shrugged. “Something this powerful.” 

“What is general AI in the first place?” I asked slowly, trying and failing to imagine the picture he was painting. 

“Layman terms: A machine that can think for itself. It’s not scary on its own, but then you consider the implications: It’ll think several leagues faster than us, it won’t need to eat or sleep and, depending on how its programmed, it might be a cold logic machine.” 

I shook my head. “But why is that suddenly dangerous?” I asked. “I already know something like that. A robot that my friend befriended. It could think and feel. I don’t know about the other things but he didn’t want to hurt anyone.” 

“That’s impossible,” said a woman. “A discovery like that and it was kept secret? Do you know who created the robot?” 

“Doctor Flappe,” I said. 

“Which, incidentally, is the AI’s name,” said the man. “It told me a tale that’s quite hard to believe. That it was human and that Dr Gero of all people—”

I moved faster than all of them could react, energy pooling into my body and heading for my students first; quick motions and I hit a pressure point before they could fortify it with energy, putting them all to sleep. 

“What—?” one of the scientist said. “What’s going on?” 

I let out a breath. “This base belongs to Dr Gero,” I said to them. “It’s something I don’t want my students finding out yet which is why I put them down. I’m going to take away their memories of this conversation, unfortunately the same can’t be said for you because it might impede your work. But this had to remain secret, no doubt you know the implications of what happened and what we’re doing?” 

Seven faces looked back at me, looking rightly terrified before they nodded. 

“Do you think it’s true that that thing is Dr Flappe?” I asked. 

It took too long before one of them answered. “He’s a hermit,” she said. “Prone to disappearing. But there was a news report a month ago, that he’d disappeared from his home in the South Capitol.” 

“Could be that the AI found out about this,” said one man. 

“Doubtful,” said the man who’d been in the server room. “The place locked tight. No outside connection to speak of. Speaking of which, this thing,” he said gesturing at his laptop, “must never leave this place. For all I know he could have infected it with something that might help him escape the box.” 

“I’ll leave you to all of that,” I said and I focused on my students who slumped all over the floor; unconscious, their natural defences against my telekinesis was non-existent. I piled them onto the Carpet and then teleported to the Lookout. 

I told Chiaotzu everything that had happened at Dr Gero’s base and the work he’d need to do on the students before I was off again, doing a more in depth check of Dr Flappe and even having Bulma see if the man hadn’t hidden himself in some corner of the world. 

He wasn’t where he was supposed to be, but the townspeople told me that this sort of behaviour was to be excepted of him, and that sometime he’d disappear for years before coming back. Which meant that the AI’s claim couldn’t be verified so easily.

Next stop was finding Eight, who was supposed to be in Giran Village. I questioned the people there too and I found out that he’d been missing for the last five years, having disappeared one night. The people explained that they hadn’t thought to contact the police because Eight had been adamant that he didn’t want that kind of attention on him. 

“Obviously an AI,” said Bulma. “You should have come to me with this. He’s got functioning androids and you didn’t think it might…but then, something like this—” 

She shook her head. 

“Dad’s been working on it as long as I’ve known him and he still isn’t close…how didn’t I know about Eight?” she asked me, an accusatory note in her tone. 

I shrugged. “I didn’t think it too interesting,” I said. “I’m not a techie like you, Bulma, this sort of stuff doesn’t seem revolutionary to me.” 

“The people I’m friends with,” Bulma said with a long suffering sigh. She ran a hand through her hand, still with that long suffering expression. “Is it done yet?” she said, this asking a witch who had her eyes closed and was pointing both her arms in Bulma’s direction. 

“Almost, ma’am,” said the witch. “Half a minute and the spell will be broken.” 

“I wonder what it’ll be this time,” she muttered. “You have no idea how much of my thought process these spells have been halting. You have no idea where we would be if they didn’t exist in the first place.” 

“Spoke to Baba about clearing the slate and she said it would take too much time to do,” I told her. “Not to mention that she’s afraid that some of the spell might have other protections.” 

“What do you mean?” Bulma asked me. 

“There are spell clouding how we use the dragon balls,” I said. “Baba said I had interesting idea but no matter how hard I try to think on it the thoughts are stolen from my mind.” 

Bulma let out a long whistle. “I’ve seen the fort you’ve built yourself. The amount of power that would need to do that,” she said. “You think it was a wish by Kami. The previous one?” 

“Might have been,” I said. “But why?” 

“We could just ask Piccolo,” she said and I frowned at that, letting the distaste show. “Then I’ll ask Piccolo,” she said. “But after checking out this AI. I want to see the code for myself.” 

“I’ll take you,” I said just as the witch said, “It’s done.” 

“Holy fuck,” said Bulma and she looked at the Carpet that I still stood on, though it was on the ground now. “That carpet can teleport.” 

888

“It’s a step back,” said Dr Gero as he got out of the submarine with a flashlight in hand. “With a lot of work that we’ll have to do to get this facility functional but it’ll do.” 

“Should we get things started boss?” said Thirteen. “You’ll have to lay low. We’re still unsure how they found us.” 

“It could be magic of all things,” Dr Gero muttered. “I hate that for so long I couldn’t look and see it for the oddity that it is.” He shook his head. “At any rate, I should study the artefact, see if I can’t replicate its effect. But first gather the necessary supplies to keep my son in stasis, the necessary supplies for a neural transference machine and everything else so we can keep working.” 

“What about Dr Frappe,” said Thirteen. 

“They’re working with Capsule Corp,” said Dr Gero. “They’re unlikely to let him out. But we should work quickly so that we’re on an even footing in the off chance that he does escape.” 

“We’re gathering too many enemies, boss,” said Thirteen. “Powerful enemies. It’s only a matter of time before we’re found again.” 

“You’re right,” said Dr Gero, a sigh leaving him. “You have three days to get as much from the boy as you can. After which let him go. It might mean they ease their search on us. Also give them something else to chase after when you’ve released the boy.” 

“As you say, boss,” said the android. 

888

“Try and stop me and I’ll take you out of my way with force,” said Lazuli. Her hair was longer with a coldness to her eyes. 

“You’re not strong enough,” I said, far too calmly. She reacted to that, heat filling her eyes before she lunged at me, a blue membrane wrapping around her arm and warping into claws. 

She was fast, but I’d been expecting this. I pulled in energy and stepped back, bending when the claws lengthened; I let myself get further back into a backflip before coming into a stand. Lazuli used my retreat to jump into the air, flying off. 

“Don’t,” I said as Yamcha made to move. “She needs to realise why we formed this in the first place. That it’s inadvisable to act on your own against a stronger force.” 

I pulled energy and the flew, moving in a wide arc and then coming to a stop in front of her. She stopped, moving to change direction but I conceptualised cordoning my well into four equal portions and then pushing out the clones. They moved, surrounding her before she really move in a direction. 

“You can’t win this,” I said. “I have more energy that you, even with the year you spent in the Time Chamber and more importantly I have more experience than you. I trained you and I’ve fought against the others who’ve trained you. It’s unlikely that you’ll come up with something novel, that you’ve come up with something novel while you were still training: You can’t win against me. Not on your own.” 

“Like you’re going to help in finding my brother!” she said, more emotion there, more heat. “You have a war to prepare for and that’s mostly what you’re focusing when doing all of this. You can’t give it your all because you might die and none of you want that. You’re not going to put in as much effort as I will with this.” 

“And what effort is that?” I asked. “What can you do that we haven’t been doing in the day you’ve spent there? We’ve pulled everything we can, got all our resources working towards finding Lapis. There’s nothing you can do that we aren’t doing.” 

“I know one thing I can do,” she said. “I can take the fight to Gero. Force him out of his hole by dealing a blow to his entire organisation.” 

I could see her train of thought and I shook my head. “You’d be hurting a lot of people,” I said. “The Foundation helps a lot of people, keeps them alive where they otherwise couldn’t be—”

“He has my brother!” she said, the anger now turned into desperation. 

“And we’ll find him,” I said. “I promise you that. Every day I’ll look for him. Trust me in that.” 

She hung in the air, shooting a glare in my direction. 

“Do,” she said and then she flew towards the Lookout. 

888

“Ingenious,” said Dr Gero as he watched the feed. “And he doesn’t know, are you sure?” 

“He doesn’t,” said Thirteen. “I’ll release him in Pilaf’s territory. It’s close to the Den, I have things to set up there.” 

“Do,” said Dr Gero. “Please do.”

He couldn’t help that he was excited, because he was about to see the full lengths that Ki abilities could go in their unhidden form. For the longest time he hadn’t been sure how the Red Ribbon Army, his main source of funding in his past, had been defeated by a boy. But since the spells which kept his mind closed had started to steadily be broken, he was learning more and more. 

Now he knew the power that existed and there was the chance that he might successfully leverage all that knowledge to build a body leagues better for his son.


End file.
